I  "** 

LECHER'S  SPEECHES 

i)N  THE 

AMERICAN  REBELLION 

DELIVERED  IN  GREAT  BRITAIN  IN 


LOVELL'S    LITERATURE   SERIES. 

DKSIKABI.K  WORKS  OK  CUKRKNT  AND  STANDARD  LITERATI; RE  IN  A 
CONVENIENT  AND  KCONOMICAL  FORM. 


Vol. 


I 


1  Modern   Painters. 

John  Ruskin 30 

2  Modern  Painters.     Vol.  2 30 

3  Modern  Painters.     Vol.  3 40 

4  Modern  Painters.     Vol.4 40 

5  Modern  Painters.     Vol.  5 }o 

(    1  Ii^'ory  of  the  French  Revolution 

Vol'I.    By  Thomas  Carlyle...  30 

7  History  of  the  French  Revolution 

VOI.9 30 

8  Stones  of   Venice.      Vol.   i.     By- 

John  Ruskin.. 4° 

9  Stones  of  Venice.     Vol.  2 40 

10  Stones  of  Venice.     Vol.3 40 

11  Seven    Lamns    of    Architecture. 

By  John  Ruskin 40 

12  Ethics  of  the  Dust.     By  Ruskin..  25 

13  Sesame  and  Lilies.     By  Ruskin..  25 

14  The  Queen  of  the* Air.    Ruskin..  25 

15  Crown  of  Wild  Olive.     Ruskin..   20 

16  Frederick  the  Great.    Vol.  i.    By 

Thomas  Carlyle 

17  Frederick  the  (Treat.     Vol.  2 

18  Frederick  the  Great.     V«>1.  3 

19  Frederick  the  Great.     Vol.  4 

20  Frederick  the  Great.     Vol.  5 

21  Frederick  the  Great.     Vol.  6 

22  Frederick  the  Great.     Vol.  7 

23  Frederick  the  Great.     Vol.8 

24  Past  and  Present.     By  Carlyle.. . 

25  Sartor  Resartus.     By  Carlyle 

26  Art  of  England.     By  Ruskin 

27  King  of  the  Golden  River.     By 

John  Ruskin 25 

28  Deucalion.     By  John  Ruskin 40 

29  St.  Mark's  Rest.     By  Ruskin 25 

30  Lectures  on  Art.     By  Ruskin 25 

31  The  Two  Paths.     By  Ruskin 25 

32  Val  D'Arno  ;  Pleasures  of  Eng 

land.     By  John  Ruskin 30 

33  Arrows,  I.     By  John  Ruskin 25 

"34  Arrows,  II.     By  John  Ruskin 25 

35  Our  Fathers  Have  Told  Us  ;  The 

Laws  of  Fesole.     By  Ruskin.     30 

36  A  Joy  Forever ;  Inaugural   Ad 

dress.     By  John  Ruskin. ..... 


37  Oliver  Cromwell,  I.     By  Carlyle 

Vs  Oliver  Cromwell,  II : 

39  Oliver  Cromwell,  III 


40  Chartism.     By  Thomas  Carlyle. 

41  Poems.     By  John  Ruskin 20 

•ry   of    Architecture;    Giotto 
and  His  Works.     By  Ruskin..  25 
43  Fors.Clavigera,  I.    By  Ruskin..  3u 
.  Ciavigera,  II 30 

45  Fors  Ciavigera,  III 30 

46  Fors  Clavigera,  IV 30 

47  Lectures    on     Architecture    and 

Painting.     By  John  Ruskin. ..  30 

48  Preraphaelitism  :     Aratra    Pene-  " 

lici.     By  John  Ruskin 30 

49  Elements  of  Drawing.     Ruskin..   BJ 

50  Proserpina.     By  John  Ruskin.. ..   40 

51  Ariadne:  Crystal  Palace  Lecture 


By  John  Ruskin. 


52  Mornings  in  Florence  ;  Time  and 

Tide.     By  John  Ruskin 25 

53  Life  of  Schiller.     By  Carlyle *j 

54  Life  of  John  Sterling.     Carlyle..  25 
5=;  Latter-day  Pamphlets.     Carlyle.  30 

56  Heroes  and  Hero  Worship.  .  By 

Thomas  Cai  lyle 25 

57  Diamond  Necklace  and  Mirabeau. 

By  Thomas  Carlyle 

sS  Early  Kings  of  Norway.    Carlyle  20 

59  Willis'  Poems.     By  N.  'P.  Willis  .   25 

60  Characteristics  and  other  Essays. 

By  Thomas  Carlyle vo 

61  Life  of  Heine.     By  Carlyle v> 

<>„.  Count  Cagliostro.     By  Carlyle...  oo 

63  Jean  Paul  Frederick  Richter.    By 

Thomas  Carlyle 

64  Goethe  and  Miscellaneous  Essays. 

By  Thomas  Carlyle 20 

65  German  Literature.     By  Carlyle.  20 
Corn    Law   Rhymes    and    Other 


65 
66 


Essays.  By  Thomas  Carlyle.  so 
f.j  Signs  ol  the  Time.  By  Carlyle..  20 
68  Dr.  Francia  and  other  Essays. 

By  Thomas  Carlyle  ...........  20 

f<>  Portraits  of  John  Knox.  Carlyle  20 

70  Voltaire  and  Novalis.     Carlyle...  20 

71  Light  of  Asia.    Edwin  Arnold...  25 

72  Aurora  Leigh.     By  Browning...  25 

73  Sketch  Book.     By  Irving  ........  30 

74  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome.     By  T. 

B.  Macaulay  ..................  25 

75  Bryant's  Poems.     By  Bryant  ----  30 

76  Selected  Poems.     By  Longfellow  25 

77  Selected  Poems.     By  Whittier.  .  .  25 

78  Dante's  Vision  of  Hell,  Purga 

tory,  and  Paradise  ............  25 

79  Lucile.    By  Owen  Meredith  .....  75 

80  Life  of  Washington.     By  Henley  25 

81  Crayon  Papers.     By  Irving  ......  20 

82  Life  of  Byron.     By  John  Ixichol.  to 

83  Emerson's  Essays.     Vol.  1  .......  25 

84  Life  of  Gibbon.     J.  C.  Morrison,  co 

85  Paradise'Lost.     By  Milton  .......  25 

86  Over  the  Summer  Seas.    By  John 

Harrison  ......................  25 

87  LallaRookh.     By  Thos.  Moore..  25 
KS  Life  of  Fredrica  Bremcr  .........  25 

89  Byron's  Poems  ...................  30 

c;o  Browning's  (Robt.)  Poems  .......   25 

91  Tennyson's  Poems  ...............  40 

92  Proctor's  Poems.     By  A.  Proctor  25 

93  Scott's  Poems  ....................  40 

(,14  Goldsmith's  Plays  ...............  20 

95  A  Tour  of  the  Prairies.     Irving..  25 

96  An  Outline  of  Irish  History.     By 


J.  H.  M'Carthy. 
Whist  or  I 


97  wnist  or  Bumblepuppy 20 

98  Tale  of  a  Traveler.     By  Irving.  25 

99  Baillie  the  Covenanter.    Carlyle  20 

ioo  Emerson's  Essa vs.     Vol.  II 25 

iui  The  Bride  of  Lammermoor.    I'.y 

Walter  Scott 20 

Hvperion.     By  Longfellow 25 

iuj  Outre  Mer.     By  Longfellow 25 


SPEECHES 


OF 


Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 


ON   THE 


AMERICAN  REBELLION 


DELIVERED  IN 


GREAT  BRITAIN   IN    1863. 


REVISED    AND 

NOW   FIRST    PUBLISHED   IN    AMERICA. 


NEW  YORK 
UNITED  STATES  BOOK  COMPANY 

SUCCESSORS  TO 

JOHN   W.    LOVELL    COMPANY 

150   WORTH   ST.,  COR.    MISSION    PLACE 


COPYRIGHT  1887, 

BT 

JOHN  ANDERSON,  JK. 


"  AFTER  a  few  months'  absence,  Mr.  Beecher  returned 
to  America,  having  finished  a  more  remarkable  embassy 
than  any  envoy  who  has  represented  us  in  Europe  since 
Franklin  pleaded  the  cause  of  the  young  Republic  at  the 
Court  of  Versailles. 

"  He  kissed  no  royal  hand,  he*tal£$l  with  no  courtly  di 
plomatists,  he  was  the  guest  of  no  titled  legislator,  he  had 
no  official  existence.  But,  through  the  heart  of  the  people, 
he  reached  nobles,  ministers,  courtiers,  the  throne  itself." 

OLIVER  WENDELL  HOLMES. 


935489 


PREFACE. 


The  object  of  this  publication  is  to  meet  the  definite 
demand  for  it  which  found  expression  in  many  ways 
during  Mr.  Beecher's  life,  but  since  his  death  has  become 
well  nigh  universal. 

Mr.  Beecher's  speeches  in  Great  Britain  on  the 
American  Rebellion  were  published  originally  in  book 
form  by  an  Emancipation  Society  in  Manchester  in  1864. 
Its  circulation  was  limited  and  the  volume  has  been  long 
out  of  print.  Though  widely  known  as  to  their  delivery 
and  results,  they  have  been  to  this  time,  in  literary  form, 
comparatively  unknown  to  American  readers. 

These  speeches  are  justly  deemed  the  most  permanent 
in  historic  interest  of  any  in  Mr.  Beecher's  life.  No  resume 
of  the  momentous  events  of  his  wonderful  career  will  be 
given  that  will  fail  to  give  prominence  to  this,  his  greatest 
oratorical  effort. 

It  has  been  said  by  many,  and  doubtless  with  truth, 
that  by  these  addresses  Mr.  Beecher  saved  this  country 
from  the  forcible  interference  of  England  in  behalf  of 
the  South  and  against  the  North. 

His  display  of  courage  in  facing  the  hostile  mobs  of 
Liverpool  and  Manchester  was  of  as  grand  a  type  as  that 
of  any  warrior  on  the  field  of  battle. 

With  matchless  skill  in  the  wording  of  his  matter; 
with  patient  forbearance,  yet  quick  as  lightning  to  seize 
an  opening;  with  astonishing  readiness  of  repartee,  that 


4  PREFACE. 

turned  the  guffaw  on  his  interrupters  and  converted 
enemies  on  the  instant  into  admirers;  with  soothing 
intonations  of  pathos  that  would  quiet  the  noisiest  until 
he  could  get  in  some  sublime  appeal  for  justice  and  liberty 
— he  stood  with  indomitable  courage  before  thost  turbu 
lent  crowds,  fighting,  parrying  their  blows  and  getting  in 
on  their  flanks,  springing  mines  of  wit  beneath  their  feet, 
blinding  their  eyes  with  sudden  flashes  of  eloquence, 
forcing  attention  by  some  happy  historic  and  ancestral 
allusion;  revealing  himself  a  tremendous  man,  determined 
never  to  yield  without  a  fair  hearing  from  men — his 
brethren — he  finally  captured  his  bitterest  foes,  and  with 
such  winsome  grace  that  they  felt  it  an  honor  to  surrender 
unconditionally  to  such  a  hero,  and  they  rent  the  air  with 
shouts  of  admiration. 

Where  has  there  been  such  a  scene  in  modern  days  ? 
Who  in  any  age  ever  displayed  nobler  qualities  of  the  orator 
or  achieved  a  sublimer  triumph  for  a  better  cause  ?  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  did  enough  in  that  campaign,  when  our 
Nation's  life  hung  in  the  balance,  for  Union  and  Liberty, 
to  endear  him  forever  to  all  American  patriots. 

It  is  perhaps  needless  to  state  that  the  revision  of 
this  work  does  not  extend  to  the  speeches  of  Mr.  Beecher 
— such  presumption  would  be  unpardonable — but  rather 
to  such  report  of  them  as  was  given  in  the  English  publi 
cation. 


SPEECH    DELIVERED    IN    THE'  '  FREE  '  TRAI/E 
HALL,  MANCHESTER,  OCTOBER  9,  1863. 

FOR  a  fortnight  previous  to  the  date  of  this  meeting, 
the  city  had  been  placarded  with  bills  containing  an 
invitation  to  the  citizens  to  attend  in  large  numbers,  and 
give  their  esteemed  guest  a  hostile  reception,  and  a 
glance  at  the  audience  would  seem  to  show  that  a  large 
number  of  these  publicly  invited  persons  had  responded 
to  the  call,  and  were  prepared  to  show  the  refinement  of 
their  manners  by  giving  to  a  stranger  to  them,  but  a 
friend  to  humanity,  the  novel  reception  characterized  by 
themselves  as  "  disgusting." 

Arrangements  had  therefore  been  made  for  the  prompt 
suppression  of  disorder,  and  notices  to  that  effect  were 
posted  about  the  room.  The  hall  was  extremely  crowded 
and  there  were  probably  six  thousand  persons  present. 

The  platform  was  occupied  by  a  number  of  distin 
guished  adherents  of  the  Union  cause,  mostly  members 
of  the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society.  Father  Gavaz- 
zi  was  in  one  of  the  reserved  seats  below  the  platform. 
The  entrance  of  Mr.  Beecher  was  the  signal  for  enthusi 
astic  and  repeated  cheering. 

Letters  were  read  from    Thomas  Bailey  Potter,   Esq., 

5 


6  HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HERS  SPEECHES 

• 

president  of  the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society,  then  in 
Scotland ;  from  Mr.  William  E.  Foster,  M.  P.,  and  from 
Mr.  Jcrlui  ;R-;fg lit,  .'regretting  their  inability  to  be  present- 
JVIj,,  Bright  said :  4*  I  am  grieved  to  be  away  from  home 
J.viieiV'Mr/ -Beecket'  is  in  the  neighborhood."  (Loud 
cheers.) 

Mr.  Francis  Taylor  having  taken  the  chair,  delivered 
an  address  of  welcome  to  Mr.  Beecher,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  combatted  the  idea  that  the  friends  of  the  North 
had  restricted  the  discussion  of  the  American  question  to 
the  simple  issue  of  slavery.  He  said  : 

"  If  this  were  true,  the  simple  issue  of  slavery  is  one 
well  worthy  the  consideration  of  Englishmen.  But  who 
limited  the  question  to  the  simple  issue  of  slavery  ?  Did 
not  the  Southern  States  in  all  their  Secession  ordinances 
declare  that  slavery,  and  slavery  alone,  was  the  ques 
tion  at  issue  ?  Did  not  the  Hon.  Alex.  Stephens,  the 
vice-president  of  the  Confederacy,  boast  that  they  were 
seeking  to  found  an  empire  on  the  '  corner-stone  of 
slavery  ?  '  The  fact  is,  the  South  has  declared,  over  and 
over  again,  that  slavery  is  the  top,  and  bottom,  and  mid 
dle  of  the  whole  question.  (Applause.)  But  we  do  not 
limit  the  discussion  of  the  question  to  the  simple  issue  of 
slavery,  and  we  are  here  to-night  to  declare  from  this 
platform  to  the  editor  of  the  Saturday  Review,  and  all 
who  think  with  him,  that  important  as  that  issue  may  be, 
there  are  others  which,  in  our  opinion,  are  equally  im 
portant.  The  South  had  held  the  reins  of  government  in 


TN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  7 

its  hands  for  a  long  series  of  years,  until  the  election  of 
Mr.  Lincoln  on  the  platform  of  the  limitation  of  the  area 
of  slavery  turned  the  scale.  That  election  was  the  free 
and  unrestricted  voice  of  the  people,  and  against  it  the 
South  rebelled.  It  was  therefore  a  rebellion  against  con 
stitutional  government — an  armed  resistance  to  a  consti 
tutional  ruler ;  and  the  issues  involved  in  the  struggle  are 
the  safety  of  constitutional  liberty  everywhere,  the  prog 
ress  of  liberal  institutions  everywhere,  and  the  develop 
ment  of  Anglo-Saxon  civilization  everywhere,  and  there 
fore  it  is  that  we  seek  to  preserve  the  great  Republic 
from  disruption." 

The  following  address  of  the  Society  was  then  read  by 
the  Secretary,  Mr.  E.  O.  Greening,  and  presented  to  Mr. 
Beecher : 

Reverend  and  dear  Sir, — As  members  of  the  Union 
and  Emancipation  Society  we  avail  ourselves  of  this  your 
first  public  appearance  in  England,  after  a  tour  under 
taken  for  the  purpose  of  relaxation,  to  welcome  you,  not 
only  as  a  citizen  of  a  great  and  free  country,  but  as  one 
who,  for  a  long  series  of  years,  has  been  a  prominent  and 
successful  pioneer  in  the  cause  of  human  progress. 
Though  separated  from  you  by  the  broad  Atlantic,  we 
have  been  earnest  spectators  of  your  fearless  and  per 
sistent  advocacy  of  the  personal  rights  of  the  colored 
race,  amidst  many  perils  and  dangers,  unmoved  alike  by 
the  blandishments  of  office,  or  the  threats  of  opponents  ; 
and  also  of  your  consistent  adherence  to  the  principles  of 


g  HENRY  WARD  BEE  CHER'S  SPEECHES 

political  and  religious  liberty.  We  deeply  deplore  the 
dreadful  calamity  which  has  come  upon  your  native 
country  ;  but,  believing  as  we  do,  that  its  sole  cause  is  to 
be  found  in  that  sum  of  all  villainies — human  slavery — we 
recognize  in  it  the  hand  of  retributive  justice  working  out 
the  one  inevitable  punishment  of  wrong-doing,  and  over 
taking  not  only  the  Southern  slave-holder,  whose  hands 
are  imbued  with  guilt,  but  our  own  country,  from  which 
you  inherited  this  hideous  institution,  and  the  free  States 
of  America  which  have  tolerated  its  existence.  Living 
ourselves  under  a  constitutional  government,  and  having 
firm  faith  in  representative  institutions,  we  viewed  with 
alarm  the  outbreak  of  a  rebellion,  which  its  promoters 
avowed  to  be  an  attempt  to  raise  an  empire  on  the 
"  corner-stone  of  slavery,"  and  which  was  essentially  a 
rebellion  against  free  constitutional  government,  and  an 
appeal  from  the  ballot-box  to  the  rifle.  The  success  of 
such  a  rebellion  would  place  constitutional  liberty  in 
jeopardy  everywhere,  and  we  congratulate  you  and  your 
countrymen  on  the  determined  stand  you  have  made  to 
maintain  unimpaired  the  great  Republic,  which  has  been 
handed  down  to  you  by  your  forefathers,  and  thus  to 
present  to  the  world  a  noble  spectacle  of  self-denying 
patriotism.  We  rejoice  that  your  statesmen,  whilst  main 
taining  that  the  restoration  of  the  Union  is  a  sacred  obli 
gation,  have  been  led,  step  by  step,  to  the  recognition 
of  the  rights  of  the  negro ;  thus  vindicating  the  con 
sistency  of  those  who  have  labored  in  the  anti-slavery 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  g 

Cause  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  in  the  midst  of  obloquy 
and  misrepresentation,  supported  only  by  their  firm  faith 
in  the  eternal  principles  of  right  and  justice  ;  and  estab 
lishing  for  them  a  claim  to  the  heartfelt  gratitude  of  the 
lovers  of  freedom  everywhere.  In  conclusion,  we  vent 
ure  to  hope  that  your  visit  may  be  the  means  of  correct 
ing  some  of  the  misrepresentations  as  to  the  position  of 
this  country  in  regard  to  the  American  struggle,  which 
have  been  assiduously  spread  by  certain  portions  of  the 
press,  and  of  cementing  the  bonds  of  amity,  which  ought 
forever  to  bind  together  in  peace  the  two  great  represent 
atives  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race — England  and  America. 
The  cordial  alliance  of  these  two  powers  may  not  be  con 
sistent  with  the  designs  of  despotism,  or  be  approved  by 
the  enemies  of  liberty  here  or  elsewhere  ;  but,  being  one 
in  race,  language,  religion,  and  love  of  freedom,  they  may 
thus  lead  the  van  of  civilization,  and  bid  defiance  to  the 
shocks  which  jealousy  or  suspicion  might  bring  upon  them. 
In  the  firm  hope  that  such  a  future  may  be  in  store  for 
your  country  and  ours,  we  bid  you  God  speed  in  the  enter 
prise  in  which  you  have  been  so  long  engaged  and  borne 
such  a  noble  part. 

Signed,  on  behalf  of  the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society, 
THOS.  BAILEY  POTTER,  President. 

Mr.  Thomas  Bazley,  M.P.,  rose  to  move  the  presenta 
tion  of  the  address  to  Mr.  Beecher.  He  said  that  not 
ten  months  ago  the  people  of  Manchester  assembled  in 
that  spacious  hall  in  overwhelming  numbers,  as  on  the 


I0  JIENRY  WARD  BEECtfEFS  SPEECHES 

present  occasion,  to  express  their  deep  sympathy  with 
constitutional  government,  with  the  integrity  of  empire, 
and  their  abhorrence  of  slavery.  Since  then  the  horrors 
of  civil  war  had  raged  in  a  country  that  had,  previously  to 
the  breaking  out  of  the  present  conflict,  been  only  known 
as  extensively  prosperous,  as  exceedingly  peaceful,  and 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth  pre-eminently  successful- - 
But  in  the  pride  of  the  South — (interruption,  and  cries  of 
"Turn  him  out."  The  chairman  :  "Do  not  put  any  one 
out,  please.  If  our  friends  would  only  be  quiet  there 
would  be  no  interruption,  as  the  disorder  is  all  caused  by 
one  man.  ") — but  in  the  pride  of  the  South  an  attempt  had 
been  made  to  build  up  a  nation  on  the  chief  corner-stone 
of  slavery,  and  such  an  attempt  had  been  alike  offensive 
to  the  great  people  of  the  States  of  America  and  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  people  of  Europe.  The  audacity  of  the 
South  was  only  equalled  by  its  unfortunate  hypocrisy. 
(A  voice  :  "  There  has  been  hypocrisy  on  both  sides.") 
The  South  now  complained  that  she  could  not  be  let 
alone  and  enjoy  her  assumed  independence.  Really 
after  having  struck  the  first  blow,  after  having  initiated 
the  rebellion  which  had  devastated  the  country,  it  was 
more  than  temperate  reason  could  sustain  to  suppose  that 
such  a  demand  could  either  be  maintained  by  the  South 
or  respected  by  those  to  whom  the  appeal  had 
been  made.  The  South  avowed  a  deep  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  the  negro  race.  It  proclaimed  to  the 
world  that  the  negro  was  better  cared  for  and  better 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  j  j 

taught  than  if  left  to  his  own  management  and  to  his 
native  condition  in  Africa.  He  knew  not  that  the  South 
had  an  abstract  right  to  determine  what  should  be  the 
state  of  a  people  or  nation  held  in  subjection.  If  the 
latter  were  free,  then  we  might  compare  facts  with  as 
sumptions.  The  inconsistency  of  the  South  was  clearly 
shown  by  its  avowing  that  the  negro  had  equal  hope  of  a 
future  state  with  the  whites.  The  truths  of  our  common 
faith  were  said  to  be  orally  taught  to  the  negroes.  But 
see  the  manifest  inconsistency  of  such  doctrine,  when  the 
common  rights  of  civilization  and  of  education  were  de 
nied  to  a  people  whose  only  doom  was  incessant  labor. 
The  South  having  commenced  the  rebellion,  must  await 
the  consequences  of  reclamation  ;  the  North  would  con 
tend  for  its  territorial  right,  for  the  spread  of  civilization, 
of  just  government,  and  of  equal  rights  to  all  ;  and  there 
fore  the  time  might  be  coming,  he  hoped — and  soon, 
too, — when  the  South,  seeing  that  its  attempt  had  been 
abortive,  would  be  glad  to  see  itself  taken  back  into  the 
Union.  (Applause.)  We  ought  never  to  forget  that  in 
the  commencement  of  the  struggle,  the  South  proclaimed 
cotton  to  be  King  'and  endeavored  to  coerce  Europe, 
that  rebellion  might  be  respected  and  the  nation,  built 
upon  the  "  corner-stone  of  slavery,"  might  be  called  into 
the  midst  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  That  had  been 
happily  prevented  ;  nothing  could  be  more  honest  or 
honorable  than  the  conduct  of  the  laboring  classes  in  the 
manufacturing  districts  of  England ;  their  comforts  hacl 


I2     HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

been  diminished,  very  important  interests  had  been  inter 
fered  with,  and  yet  in  their  suffering  they  had  been  patient, 
and  they  desired  not  to  be  fed  with  the  results  of  the 
labor  of  the  slave.  His  duty  on  the  present  occasion  was 
to  move  that  the  address  which  had  been  read  be  present 
ed  to  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  was  present.  He 
need  not  recommend  it  for  adoption,  for  he  felt  convinced 
that  it  would  be  carried  by  overwhelming  acclamation. 
The  reverend  gentleman  was  received  here  as  the  mes 
senger  of  peace  and  of  good-will  (loud  cheering  and  some 
hissing)  to  those  Anglo-Saxon  peoples  that  were  destined, 
on  each  side  of  the  Atlantic,  to  spread  civilization  and 
justice  throughout  the  world. 

Mr.  J.  H.  Estcourt  in  seconding  the  motion  made  a 
very  telling  address.  He  said  : 

As  a  member  of  the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society, 
he,  for  one,  from  the  commencement  of  the  rebellion  till 
now,  had  sympathized  with  the  Federal  party  in  America 
for  this  reason,  that  slavery  up  to  that  time  had  only 
local  sanction ;  but  then  it  claimed  to  be  national,  and 
rather  than  that  it  should  be  national  in  America,  they 
said  :  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  further ;  "  and  be 
cause  the  South  could  get  no  further,  the  first  gun  at 
Sumter  was  fired.  It  would  have  been  discreditable 
alike  to  the  President  of  the  Republic,  as  well  as  to  the 
people  of  that  Republic,  to  have  submitted  to  such  an 
audacious  insult  to  constitutional  government.  (Loud 
applause.)  And  he  had  no  hesitation  in  saying  that 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  1  ^ 

those  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  who  were  now 
fighting  for  constitutional  government,  and .  free  speech, 
and  personal,  civil,  social,  political  and  religious  free 
dom,  ought  to  have  the  moral  support,  and  he  believed 
they  had,  of  every  intelligent  and  well  informed  English 
man.  He  could  not  say  how  long  it  would  take  to  con 
vert  and  enlighten  the  unenlightened  and  uninformed 
portion  of  the  community,  who  in  establishing  the  South 
ern  Slave-holding  Association  had  publicly  acknowledged 
one  of  their  objects  to  be  to  obtain  "  correct  informa 
tion  ;  "  but  inasmuch  as  the  Union  and  Emancipation 
Society  was  established  fc*  the  very  purpose  of  supply 
ing  such  information,  h«  promised  to  all  applicants  that 
which  they  sought,  and  hoped  they  would  be  diligent  in 
the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and  he  sincerely  trusted 
that  before  the  year  was  out  this  class  of  the  community 
would  be  sailing  with  them  in  one  boat,  in  an  intelligent 
English  career,  in  favor  of  a  liberty  which  was  the  un 
doubted  right  of  every  man.  He  had  noticed  a  pecul 
iarity  in  Manchester  lately  which  was  highly  suggestive, 
at  any  rate,  to  intelligent  men.  A  certain  party  had  said 
that  Mr.  Beecher  was  too  American,  because,  forsooth, 
he  did  not  see  things  exactly  as  they  saw  them.  But 
whereas  in  1854  and  1857  that  great  and  noble  man, 
John  Bright — (loud  applause) — was  blamed  for  being  un- 
English  with  reference  to  the  Crimean  war,  now  the 
selfsame  party  blamed  Mr.  Beecher  for  being  too  Ameri- 
gan.  All  good  and  great  men  have  been  misrepresented. 


!4  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

and  thus  it  was  such  men  were  misunderstood.  There 
were  few  men  in  the  world  who  had  the  moral  courage  to 
act  out  their  convictions,  and  to  dare  to  express  broad 
principles,  independent  of  sect  or  party ;  such  men  pos 
sessed  an  individuality  that  took  them  out  of  the  groove 
wherein  the  masses  of  the  people  are  placed.  If  Mr. 
Beecher,  who  had  been  consistent  and  persistent  in  his 
advocacy  of  the  rights  of  freedom,  had  viewed  from  his 
standpoint  in  America  certain  things  in  England  that  to 
him  did  not  appear  to  bear  that  friendship  which  he 
thought  ought  to  have  been  borne,  he  had  a  perfect  right 
to  express  his  opinion  in  a  frank  and  independent  man 
ner.  The  meeting  was  not  asked  to  endorse  every  word 
Mr.  Beecher  had  said,  but  to  manifest  by  its  welcome, 
that  everything  he  had  done  in  promoting  the  extension 
of  the  broad  principles  of  liberty,  had  its  hearty  approval. 
(Applause.)  The  mode  of  doing  this  must  be  left  to 
Mr.  Beecher  himself,  and  he  (Mr.  Estcourt)  was  quite 
sure  there  was  not  an  Englishman  in  that  crowded  hall 
who  did  not  sympathize  and  wholly  approve  of  a  manly, 
moral,  good  man,  wherever  he  was  found,  whether  he  be 
an  American,  an  Englishman,  or  the  citizen  of  any 
other  nation.  (Applause.)  He  therefore,  believing  Mr. 
Beecher  to  be  such  a  man,  with  the  greatest  pleasure 
seconded  the  adoption  of  the  address. 

The  chairman  then  put  the  resolution,  and  thousands  of 
hands  were  thrust  up  high  above  the  heads  of  the  dense  audi 
ence.  After  an  interval  of  loud  cheers,  the  chairman  put 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  r  5 

the  contrary,  and  amidst  peals  of  derisive  laughter  and 
cheers  a  few  hands  were  held  up. 

The  CHAIRMAN  :  "  I  declare  the  resolution  carried 
by  an  overwhelming  majority."  (Enthusiastic  cheering.) 
The  chairman,  in  handing  the  address  to  Mr.  Beecher, 
expressed  a  hope  that  the  reverend  gentleman  would  long 
live  in  health  and  strength  to  continue  his  career. 

Mr.  BEECHER  then  turned  to  the  audience  to  speak, 
but  for  several  minutes  he  was  prevented  by  deafening 
cheers,  followed  by  a  few  hisses,  which  only  provoked  a 
renewed  outburst  of  applause. 

Mr.  BEECHER  then  said  :  "Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  the  address  which  you  have  kindly  presented 
to  me  contains  matters  both  personal  and  national. 
(Interruption.)  My  friends,  we  will  have  a  whole  night 
session  but  we  will  be  heard.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  have 
not  come  to  England  to  be  surprised  that  those  men 
whose  cause  cannot  bear  the  light  are  afraid  of  free 
speech.  I  have  had  practice  of  more  than  twenty-five 
years  in  the  presence  of  tumultuous  assemblies  opposing 
those  very  men  whose  representatives  now  attempt  to 
forestall  free  speech.  Little  by  little,  I  doubt  not,  I 
shall  be  permitted  to  speak  to-night.  Little  by  little  I 
have  been  permitted  in  my  own  country  to  speak,  until 
at  last  the  day  has  come  there  when  nothing  but  the 
utterance  of  speech  for  freedom  is  popular.  You  have 
been  pleased  to  speak  of  me  as  one  connected  with  the 
great  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  I  covet  no 


j6  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

higher  honor  than  to  have  my  name  joined  to*  the  list  of 
that  great  company  of  noble  Englishmen  from  whom  we 
derived  our  doctrines  of  liberty.  For  although  there  is 
some  opposition  to  what  are  here  called  American  ideas, 
what  are  these  American  ideas  ?  They  are  simply  Eng 
lish  ideas  bearing  fruit  in  America.  We  bring  back 
American  sheaves,  but  the  seed-corn  we  got  in  England 
— and  if,  on  a  larger  sphere,  and  under  circumstances  of 
unobstruction,  we  have  reared  mightier  harvests,  every 
sheaf  contains  the  grain  that  has  made  Old  England  rich 
for  a  hundred  years.  (Great  cheering.)  I  am  also  not  a 
little  gratified  that  my  first  appearance  to  speak  on  secu 
lar  topics  in  England  is  in  this  goodly  town  of  Man 
chester,  for  I  had  rather  have  praise  from  men  who  un 
derstand  the  quality  praised,  than  from  those  who  speak 
at  hazard  and  with  little  knowledge  of  the  thing  praised. 
And  where  else,  more  than  in  these  great  central  por 
tions  of  England,  and  in  what  town  more  than  Man 
chester  have  the  doctrines  of  human  rights  been  battled 
for,  and  where  else  have  there  been  gained  for  them 
nobler  victories  than  here  ?  It  is  not  indiscriminate 
praise  therefore  :  you  know  what  you  talk  about.  You 
have  had  practice  in  these  doctrines  yourselves,  and  to 
be  praised  by  those  who  are  illustrious  is  praise  indeed. 
Allusion  has  been  made  by  one  of  the  gentlemen — a  cau 
tionary  allusion,  a  kind  of  deference  evidently  paid  to 
some  supposed  feeling — an  allusion  has  been  made  to 
words  or  deeds  of  mine  that  might  be  supposed  to  be 


IN  ENGLAA  7)  /.Y  1 863.  l  j 

offensive  to  Englishmen.  I  cannot  say  how  that  may  be. 
I  am  sure  that  I  have  never  thought,  in  the  midst  of  this 
mighty  struggle  at  home,  which  has  taxed  every  power 
and  energy  of  our  people — I  have  never  stopped  to  meas 
ure  and  to  think  whether  my  words  spoken  in  truth  and 
with  fidelity  to  duty  would  be  liked  in  this  shape  or  in  that 
shape  by  one  or  another  person  either  in  England  or 
America.  I  have  had  one  simple,  honest  purpose,  which 
I  have  pursued  ever  since  I  have  been  in  public  life,  and 
that  was  with  all  the  strength  that  God  has  given  to  me  to 
maintain  the  cause  of  the  poor  and  of  the  weak  in  my  own 
country.  And  if,  in  the  height  and  heat  of  conflict,  some 
words  have  been  over  sharp,  and  some  positions  have  been 
taken  heedlessly,  are  you  the  men  to  call  one  to  account  ? 
What  if  some  exquisite  dancing-master,  standing  on  the 
edge  of  a  battle,  where  Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  swung  his 
axe,  criticised  him  by  saying  that  "  his  gestures  and  pos 
tures  violated  the  proprieties  of  polite  life?"  (Laughter.) 
When  dandies  fight  they  think  how  they  look,  but  when 
men  fight  they  think  only  of  deeds.  But  I  am  not  here 
either  on  trial  or  on  defence.  It  matters  not  what  I  have 
said  on  other  occasions  and  under  different  circumstances. 
Here  I  am  before  you,  willing  to  tell  you  what  I 
think  about  England,  or  any  person  in  it.  Let  me  say 
one  word,  however,  in  regard  to  this  meeting,  and  the 
peculiar  gratification  which  I  feel  in  it.  The  same  agen 
cies  which  have  been  at  work  to  misrepresent  good  men 
in  our  country  to  you,  have  been  at  work  to  misrepresent 


!g  HRNRY  WARD  BE  EC  HERS  SPEECHES 

to  us  good  men  here ;  and  when  I  say  to  my  friends  in 
America  that  I  have  attended  such  a  meeting  as  this, 
received  such  an  address,  and  beheld  such  enthusiasm, 
it  will  be  a  renewed  pledge  of  amity.  I  have  never 
ceased  to  feel  that  war  or  even  unkind  feelings  between 
two  such  great  nations,  would  be  one  of  the  most  unpar 
donable  and  atrocious  offences  that  the  world  ever 
beheld,  and  I  have  regarded  everything  therefore,  which 
needlessly  led  to  those  feelings  out  of  which  war  comes 
as  being  in  itself  wicked.  The  same  blood  is  in  us.  We 
are  your  children,  or  the  children  of  your  fathers  and 
ancestors.  You  and  we  hold  the  same  substantial  doc 
trines.  We  have  the  same  mission  amongst  the  nations 
of  the  earth.  Never  were  mother  and  daughter  set  "forth 
to  do  so  queenly  a  thing  in  the  kingdom  of  God's  glory 
as  F^ngland  and  America.  Do  you  ask  why  we  are  so 
sensitive,  and  why  have  we  hewn  England  with  our 
tongue  as  we  have  ?  I  will  tell  you  why.  There  is  no 
man  who  can  offend  you  so  deeply  as  the  one  you  love 
most.  Men  point  to  France  and  Napoleon,  and  say  he 
has  joined  England  in  all  that  she  has  done,  and  why 
are  the  press  of  America  silent  against  France,  and  why 
do  they  speak  as  they  do  against  England  ?  It  is  be 
cause  we  love  England.  I  well  remember  the  bitterness 
left  by  the  war  of  our  Independence,  and  the  outbreak  of 
the  flame  of  1812  from  its  embers.  To  hate  England 
was  in  my  boyhood  almost  the  first  lesson  of  patriotism ; 
but  that  result  of  conflict  gradually  died  away  as  peace 


/#  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  19 

brought  forth  its  proper  fruits :  interests,  reciprocal 
visits,  the  interchanges  of  Christian  sympathy,  and  co 
operative  labors  in  a  common  cause  lessened  and  finally 
removed  ill-feelings.  In  their  place  began  to  arise 
affection  and  admiration.  For  when  we  searched  our 
principles,  they  all  ran  back  to  rights  wrought  out  and 
established  in  England ;  when  we  looked  at  those  insti 
tutions  of  which  we  were  most  proud,  we  beheld  that  the 
very  foundation  stones  were  taken  from  the  quarry  of 
your  history  ;  when  we  looked  for  those  men  that  had 
illustrated  our  own  tongue,  orators,  or  eloquent  ministers 
of  the  gospel,  they  were  English ;  we  borrowed  nothing 
from  France,  but  here  a  fashion  and  there  a  gesture  or  a 
custom  :  while  what  we  had  to  dignify  humanity — that 
made  life  worth  having — were  all  brought  from  Old 
England.  And  do  you  suppose  that  under  such  circum 
stances,  with  this  growing  love,  with  this  growing  pride, 
with  this  gladness  to  feel  that  we  were  being  associated 
in  the  historic  glory  of  England,  it  was  with  feelings  of 
indifference  that  we  beheld  in  our  midst  the  heir-appar 
ent  to  the  British  throne  ?  There  is  not  reigning  on  the 
globe  a  sovereign  who  commands  our  simple,  unpreten 
tious,  and  unaffected  respect,  as  does  your  own  beloved 
Queen.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  have  heard  multitudes  of  men 
say  that  it  was  their  joy  and  their  pleasure  to  pay  respect 
to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  even  if  he  had  not  won  personal 
sympathy,  that  his  mother  might  know  that  through  him 
the  compliment  was  meant  to  her.  It  was  an  unar- 


20  HENRY  WARD  BEECttER  '£  SPEECHES 

ranged  and  unexpected  spontaneous  and  universal  out 
break  of  popular  enthusiasm  ;  it  began  in  the  colonies  of 
Canada,  the  fire  rolled  across  the  border,  all  through 
New  England,  all  through  New  York  and  Ohio,  down 
through  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjacent  States;  nor  was 
the  element  quenched  until  it  came  to  Richmond.  I 
said,  and  many  said— the  past  of  enmity  and  prejudice  is 
now  rolled  below  the  horizon  of  memory  :  a  new  era  is 
come,  and  we  have  set  our  hand  and  voices  as  a  sacred 
seal  to  our  cordial  affection  and  co-operation  with  Eng 
land.  Now  (whether  we  interpreted  it  aright  or  not,  is 
not  the  question)  when  we  thought  England  was  seeking 
opportunity  to  go  with  the  South  against  us  of  the  North, 
it  hurt  us  as  no  other  nation's  conduct  could  hurt  us  on 
the  face  of  the  globe ;  and  if  we  spoke  some  words  of 
intemperate  heat,  we  spoke  them  in  the  mortification  of 
disappointed  affection.  It  has  been  supposed  that  I 
have  aforetime  urged  or  threatened  war  with  England. 
Never.  This  I  have  said — and  this  I  repeat  now,  and 
here — that  the  cause  of  constitutional  government  and  of 
universal  liberty  as  associated  with  it  in  our  country  was 
so  dear,  so  sacred,  that  rather  than  betray  it  we  would 
give  the  last  child  we  had — that  we  would  not  relinquish 
this  conflict  though  other  States  rose,  and  entered  into  a 
league  with  the  South — and  that,  if  it  were  necessary  we 
would  maintain  this  great  doctrine  of  representative  gov 
ernment  in  America  against  the  armed  world — against 
England  and  France.  (Great  cheering,  followed  by  some 


tN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2I 

disturbance,  in  reference  to  which  the  chairman  rose 
and  cautioned  an  individual  under  the  gallery  whom 
he  had  observed  persisting  in  interruption.)  Let 
me  be  permitted  to  say  then,  that  it  seems  to  me  the 
darker  days  of  embroilment  between  this  country  and 
America  are  past.  The  speech  of  Earl  Russell  at  Blair- 
gowrie,  the  stopping  of  those  armed  ships,  and  the  pres 
ent  attitude  of  the  British  government — will  go  far 
towards  satisfying  our  people.  Understand  me ;  we  do 
not  accept  Earl  Russell's  doctrine  of  belligerent  rights 
nor  of  neutrality,  as  applied  to  the  action  of  the  British 
government  and  nation  at  the  beginning  of  our  civil  war, 
as  right  doctrine,  but  we  accept  it  as  an  accomplished 
fact.  We  have  drifted  so  far  away  from  the  time  when  it 
was  profitable  to  discuss  the  questions  of  neutrality  or 
belligerency,  and  circumstances  with  you  and  with  us  are 
so  much  changed  by  the  progress  of  the  war,  that  we  now 
only  ask  of  the  government  strict  neutrality,  and  of  the 
liberty-loving  people  of  England  moral  sympathy.  Noth 
ing  more!  We  ask  no  help,  and  no  hindrance.  If 
you  do  not  send  us  a  man,  we  do  not  ask  for  a  man. 
If  you  do  not  send  us  another  pound  of  powder,  we  are 
able  to  make  our  own  powder.  (Laughter.)  If  you  do 
not  send  us  another  musket  nor  another  cannon,  we  have 
cannon  that  will  carry  five  miles  already.  (Laughter.) 
We  do  not  ask  for  material  help.  We  shall  be  grateful 
for  moral  sympathy,  but  if  you  cannot  give  us  moral 
sympathy  we  shall  still  endeavor  to  do  without  it.  All 


22  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  '5  SPEECHES 

that  we  say  is  let  France  keep  away,  let  England  keep 
hands  off  ;  if  we  cannot  manage  this  rebellion  by  our 
selves,  then  let  it  be  not  managed  at  all.  (Cheers ) 
We  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  doubt  the  issue  of  this 
conflict.  It  is  only  a  question  of  time.  For  such 
inestimable  principles  as  are  at  stake,  —  of  self- 
government,  of  representative  government,  of  any  gov 
ernment  at  all,  of  free  institutions  rejected  be 
cause  they  inevitably  will  bring  liberty  to  slaves  un 
less  subverted  ; — of  national  honor,  and  fidelity  to  sol 
emn  national  trusts, — for  all  these  war  is  waged,  and  if 
by  war  these  shall  be  secured,  not  one  drop  of  blood 
will  be  wasted,  not  one  life  squandered.  The  suffering 
will  have  purchased  a  glorious  future  of  inconceivable 
peace  and  happiness  !  Nor  do  we  deem  the  result  doubt 
ful.  The  population  is  in  the  North  and  West.  The 
wealth  is  there.  The  popular  intelligence  of  the  country 
is  there.  THERE  only  is  there  an  educated  common  people. 
The  right  doctrines  of  civil  government  are  with  the 
North.  (Cheers,  and  a  voice,  "Where's  the  justice?") 
It  will  not  be  long,  before  one  thing  more  will  be  with 
the  North— Victory.  (Loud  and  enthusiastic  rounds  of 
cheers.)  Men  on  this  side  are  impatient  at  the  long  de 
lay  ;  but  if  we  can  bear  it,  can't  you  ?  (Laughter.)  You 
are  quite  at  ease— ("not  yet");  we  are  not.  You  are 
not  materially'affected  in  any  such  degree  as  many  parts 
of  our  own  land  are.  But  if  the  day  shall  come  in  one 
year,  in  two  years,  or  in  ten  years  hence,  when  the  old 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2* 

stars  and  stripes  shall  float  over  every  State  of  America, 

— (loud  cheers,  and  some  disturbance  from  one  or  two) 

oh,  let  him  (the  chief  disturber)  have  a  chance.     (Laugh 
ter.)     I  was  saying,  when  interrupted  by  that  sound  from 
the  other  side  of  the  hall,  that  if  the  day  shall  come,  in 
one  or  five  or  ten  years,  in  which  the   old  honored   and 
historic  banner  shall  float  again  over  every  State  of  the 
South ;  if  the  day  shall  come  when  that  which  was  the  ac 
cursed  cause  of  this  dire  and  atrocious  war— slavery— shall 
be  done  away ;  if  the  day  shall  have  come,  when  through 
all  the  Gulf  States  there  shall  be  liberty  of  speech,  as  there 
never  has  been  ;  when  there  shall  be  liberty  of  the  press, 
as  there  never  has  been  ;  when  men  shall  have  common 
schools  to  send  their  children  to,  which  they  never  have 
had  in  the   South ;  if  the  day  shall  come  when  the  land 
shall  not   be   parcelled    into   gigantic  plantations,   in  the 
hands  of  a   few   rich  oligarchs,    but  shall  be  divided  to 
honest  farmers,  every  man  owning  his  little ;  in   short,  if 
the  day  shall  come  when  the  simple  ordinances,  the  frui 
tion  and  privileges  of  civil  liberty  shall  prevail  in  every 
part  of  the  United  States  —  it  will  be  worth  all  the  dread 
ful  blood,  and  tears,  and  woe.     (Loud  cheers.)     You  are 
impatient ;  and  yet  God  dwelleth   in  eternity,  and  has  an 
infinite  leisure  to  roll  forward  the  affairs  of  men,  not   to 
suit  the  hot  impatience  of  those  who  are  but  children  of 
a  day,  and  cannot  wait  or   linger  long,  but    according  to 
the  infinite  circle  on  which  He  measures  time  and  events  ! 
He  expedites  or  retards  as  it  pleases  him  ;  and  yet  if  He 


24  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

heard  our  cries  or  prayers,  not  thrice  would  the  months 
revolve  but  peace  would  come.  But  the  strong  crying 
and  prayers  of  millions  have  not  brought  peace,  but 
only  thickening  war.  We  accept  the  Providence ;  the 
duty  is  plain.  (Cheers  and  interruption.)  I  repeat,  the 
duty  is  plain.  So  rooted  is  this  English  people  in  the 
faith  of  liberty,  that  it  were  an  utterly  hopeless  task  for 
any  minion  or  sympathizer  of  the  South  to  sway  the  pop 
ular  sympathy  of  England,  if  this  English  people  be 
lieved  that  this  was  none  other  than  a  conflict  between 
liberty  and  slavery.  It  is  just  that.  The  conflict  may  be 
masked  by  our  institutions.  Every  people  must  shape 
public  action  through  their  laws  and  institutions.  We 
often  cannot  reach  an  evil  directly,  but  only  circuitously, 
through  the  channels  of  law  and  custom.  It  is  none  the 
less  a  contest  for  liberty  and  against  slavery,  because  it 
is  primarily  a  conflict  for  the  Union.  It  is  by  that  Union, 
vivid  with  liberty,  that  we  have  to  scourge  oppression 
and  establish  liberty.  Union,  in  the  future,  means 
justice,  liberty,  popular  rights.  Only  slavery  has  hith 
erto  prevented  Union  from  bearing  such  fruit.  Slav 
ery  was  introduced  into  our  country  at  a  time,  and  in 
a  manner,  when  neither  England  nor  America  knew  well 
what  were  the  results  of  thai  atrocious  system.  It 
was  ignorantly  received  and  propagated  on  our  side  ; 
little  by  little  it  spread  through  all  the  thirteen  States 
that  then  were  :  for  slavery  in  the  beginning  was  in  New 
England  as  really  as  now  it  is  in  the  Southern  States. 


rN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2$ 

But  when  the  great  struggle  for  our  independence  came 
on,  the  study  of  the  doctrines  of  human  rights  had  made 
such  progress,  that  the  whole  public  mind  began  to  think 
it  was  wrong  to  wage  war  to  defend  our  rights,  while  we 
were  holding  men  in  slavery,  depriving  them  of  theirs. 
It  is  an  historical  fact,  that  all  the  great  and  renowned 
men  that  flourished  at  the  period  of  our  revolution  were 
abolitionists.  Washington  was  ;  so  was  Benjamin  Frank 
lin  ;  so  was  Thomas  Jefferson  ;  so  was  James  Monroe ; 
so  were  the  principal  Virginian  and  Southern  statesmen, 
and  the  first  abolition  society  ever  founded  in  America 
was  founded  not  in  the  North,  but  in  the  Middle  and  a 
portion  of  the  Southern  States.  Before  the  War  of  In 
dependence  slavery  was  decaying  in  the  North,  from 
moral  and  physical  causes  combined.  It  ceased  in  New 
England  with  the  adoption  of  our  constitution.  It  has 
been  unjustly  said  that  they  sold  their  slaves,  and 
preached  a  cheap  emancipation  to  the  South.  Slavery 
ceased  in  Massachusetts  as  follows  :  When  suit  was 
brought  for  the  services  of  a  slave,  the  Chief  Justice  laid 
down  as  law,  that  our  Declaration  of  Independence, 
which  pronounced  all  men  "equal,"  and  equally  entitled 
to  "  life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness,"  was  it 
self  a  bill  of  emancipation,  and  he  refused  to  yield  up 
that  slave  for  service.  At  a  later  period  New  York 
passed  an  Emancipation  Act.  It  has  been  said  that  she 
sold  her  slaves.  No  slander  was  ever  greater.  The 
most  careful  provision  was  made  against  sale.  No  man 


26  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

travelling  out  of  the  State  of  New  York  after  the  passing 
of  the  Emancipation  Act  was  permitted  to  have  any  slave 
with  him,  unless  he  gave  bonds  for  his  re-appearance  with 
him.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  slaves  were  emancipated 
without  compensation  on  the  spot,  to  take  effect  gradually 
class  by  class.  But  after  a  trial  of  half  a  score  of  years 
the  people  found  this  gradual  emancipation  was  intolera 
ble.  It  was  like  gradual  amputation.  They  therefore 
by  another  act  of  legislation  declared  immediate  emanci 
pation — and  that  took  effect ;  and  so  slavery  perished  in 
the  State  of  New  York.  Substantially  so  it  was  in  New 
Jersey,  and  in  Pennsylvania  ;  never  was  there  an  example 
of  States  that  emancipated  slaves  more  purely  from  moral 
conviction  of  the  wrong  of  slavery.  I  know  that  it  is 
said  that  Northern  capital  and  Northern  ships  were 
employed  in  the  slave  trade.  To  an  extent  it  was  so. 
But  is  there  any  community  that  lives,  in  which  there 
are  not  miscreants  who  violate  the  public  conscience  ? 
Then  and  since,  the  man  who  dared  to  use  his  capital 
and  his  ships  in  this  infamous  traffic  hid  himself,  and  did 
by  agents  what  he  was  ashamed  to  be  known  to  have 
done  himself.  Any  man  in  the  North  who  notoriously 
had  part  or  lot  in  a  trade  so  detested  would  have  been 
branded  with  the  mark  of  Cain.  It  is  true  that  the  port 
of  New  York  has  been  employed  in  this  infernal  traffic, 
but  it  was  because  it  was  under  the  influence  either  of 
that  "democratic"  party  that  was  then  unfortunately  in 
alliance  with  the  Southern  slavery — or  because  it  was 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2/ 

under  the  dark  political  control  of  the  South  itself.     For 
when   the    South   could    appoint    our    marshals, — could, 
through  the  national  administration,  control   the  appoint 
ment  of  every  Federal  officer,    our  collectors,  and  every 
custom-house  officer, — how  could  it   but   be    that   slavery 
flourished  in  our  harbors  ?     For  years  together  New  York 
has  been  as  much  controlled  by  the  South  in  matters  re 
lating  to  slavery,  as  Mobile  or  New  Orleans  !     But,  even 
so,    the    slave    trade   was   clandestine.     It  abhorred   the 
light :  it  crept  in  and  out  of  the  harbor  stealthily,  despised 
and  hated  by  the  whole  community.     Is  New  York  to  be 
blamed  for  demoniac   acts  done  by  her   limbs    while  yet 
under  possession  of  the  devil  ?  she  is  now  clothed,  and 
in  her  right  mind.     There  was  one  Judas  ;  is  Christianity 
therefore  a  hoax  ?     There    are   hissing   men    in   this    au 
dience — are  you  not  respectable?     (Cheers   and   laugh 
ter.)     The  folly  of  the  few  is  that  light  which  God  casts 
to  irradiate  the  wisdom  of   the   many.     And  let   me  say 
one  word  here  about  the  constitution  of  America.     It  rec 
ognizes  slavery  as  &fact ;  but  it  does  not  recognize  the 
doctrine  of  slavery  in  anyway  whatever;    it  was  a  fact ; 
it  lay  before  the  ship  of  state,  as  a  rock  lies  in  the  chan 
nel  of  the  ship  as  she  goes   into  harbor  ;  and  because  a 
ship  steers  round  a  rock,  does  it  follow  that  that  rock  is 
in  the  ship?     And  because  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States  made  some  circuits  to  steer  round  that  great  fact, 
does  it  follow  that  therefore  slavery  is  recognized  in  the 
constitution  as  a  right  or  a  system  ?     See  how  carefully 


28  HENRY  ll'AA'D  JIEECIIER'S  SPEECHES 

that  immortal  document  worded  itself.  In  the  slave 
laws  the  slave  is  declared  to  be — what  ?  expressly,  and 
by  the  most  repetitious  phraseology,  he  is  denuded  of 
all  the  attributes  and  characteristics  of  manhood,  and  is 
pronounced  a  "  chattel."  (Shame.)  Now,  you  have  just 
that  same  word  in  your  farming  language  with  the  //  left 
out,  "  cattle."  And  the  difference  between  cattle  and 
chattel  is  the  difference  between  quadruped  and  biped. 
(Laughter.)  So  far  as  animate  property  is  concerned, 
and  so  far  as  inanimate  property  is  concerned,  it  is  just 
the  difference  between  locomotive  property  and  sta 
tionary  property.  The  laws  in  all  the  slave  States 
stand  on  the  radical  principle  that  a  slave  is  not 
for  purposes  of  law  any  longer  to  be  ranked  in  the 
category  of  human  beings,  but  that  he  is  a  piece  of 
property,  and  is  to  be  treated  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
as  a  piece  of  property  ;  and  the  law  did  not  blush,  nor  do 
the  judges  blush  now-a-days  who  interpret  that  law.  But 
how  does  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  when  it 
speaks  of  these  same  slaves,  name  them  ?  Does  it  call 
them  chattels  or  slaves  ?  Nay,  it  refused  even  the  softer 
words  serf  and  servitude.  Conscientiously  aware  of  the 
dignity  of  man,  and  that  service  is  not  opposed  to  the 
grandeur  of  his  nature,  it  alludes  to  the  slaves  barely  as, 
persons  (not  chattels)  held  to  service  (not  servitude).  Go 
to  South  Carolina,  and  ask  what  she  calls  slaves,  and  her 
laws  reply  "  they  are  things : "  but  the  old  capitol  at 
Washington  sullenly  reverberates,  "  No,  persons  J"  Go 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  29 

to  Mississippi,  the  State  of  Jefferson  Davis,  and  her  fun 
damental  law  pronounces  the  slave  to  be  only  a  "  thing  ;  " 
and  again,  the  Federal  Constitution  sounds  back,  "  Per 
sons."  Go  to  Louisiana  and  its  constitution,  and  still 
that  doctrine  of  devils  is  enunciated — it  is  "chattel,"  it 
is  "  thing."  Looking  upon  those  for  whom  Christ  felt 
mortal  anguish  in  Gethsemane,  and  stretched  himself  out 
for  death  on  Calvary,  their  laws  call  them  "  things  "  and 
"  chattels  ; "  and  still  in  tones  of  thunder  the  Constitu 
tion  of  the  United  States  says  "  Persons."  The  slave 
States,  by  a  definition,  annihilate  manhood ;  the  Consti 
tution,  by  a  word,  brings  back  the  slave  to  the  human 
family.  What  was  it  then,  when  the  country  had  ad 
vanced  so  far  towards  universal  emancipation  in  the 
period  of  our  national  formation,  that  stopped  this 
onward  tide  ?  Two  things,  commercial  and  political. 
First,  the  wonderful  demand  for  cotton  throughout  the 
world,  precisely  when,  from  the  invention  of  the  cotton 
gin,  it  became  easy  to  turn  it  to  service.  Slaves  that 
before  had  been  worth  from  300  to  400  dollars,  began  to 
be  worth  600  dollars.  That  knocked  away  one-third  of 
adherence  to  the  moral  law.  Then  they  became  worth 
700  dollars,  and  half  the  law  went ;  then  800  or  900 
dollars,  and  then  there  was  no  such  thing  as  moral  law  \ 
then  1000  or  1200  dollars,  and  slavery  became  one  of 
the  beatitudes.  (Cheers  and  laughter.)  The  other  cause, 
which  checked  the  progress  of  emancipation  that  had 
already  so  auspiciously  begun,  was  political,  It  is  very 


30  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

singular,  that,  in  what  are  called  the  "  compromises  "  of 
the  constitution,  the  North,  while  attempting  to  prevent 
advantage  to  slavery,  gave  to  the  slave  power  the  peculiar 
advantage  which  it  has  had  ever  since.  In  Congress  the 
question  early  arose,  How  should  the  revenue  be-  raised 
in  the  United  States  ?  For  a  long  time  it  was  proposed, 
and  there  was  an  endeavor,  to  raise  it  by  a  tax  upon  all 
the  cultivated  land  in  the  different  States.  When  this 
was  found  unjust  and  unequal,  the  next  proposal  was,  to 
raise  taxes  on  the  "  polls,"  or  heads  of  the  voters,  in  the 
different  States.  That  was  to  be  the  basis  of  the  calcula 
tion  upon  which  taxes  should  be  apportioned.  Now 
when  that  question  came  up,  it  was  said  that  it  was  not 
right  to  levy  Federal  taxes  upon  the  Indians  in  Georgia, 
who  paid  no  taxes  to  the  Georgian  State  exchequer.  So 
the  North  consented  :  but  in  making  up  the  list  of  men 
to  be  taxed,  and  excluding  the  Indians,  it  insisted  that 
the  slaves  should,  nevertheless,  be  included.  That  is  to 
say,  if  Georgia  was  to  pay  to  the  Federal  exchequer  in 
proportion  to  her  population,  it  was  the  interest  of  the 
North  that  her  population  should  be  swelled  by  counting 
all  her  slaves.  There  was  a  long  debate  on  this  subject ; 
and  not  to  detain  you  with  all  the  turns  on  this  matter, 
the  two  things  were  coupled  together  at  last— representa 
tion  and  taxation.  Their  eyes  being  fixed  solely  upon  the 
assessment  of  taxes,  it  was  agreed  that  five  slaves  should 
count  as  three  men,  and  that  it  was  supposed  would  give 
50me  advantage  to  the  North  against  slavery.  But  in  a 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  3! 

very  few  years  the  government  ceased  to  raise  taxation 
by  "  poll,"  and  raised  it  by  tariff.  Thenceforward,  as 
representatives  had  to  be  chosen  in  the  same  way,  and  as 
five  slaves  counted  as  three  white  men,  the  South  has  had 
the  advantage  ;  and  it  has  come  to  this  point,  that  while 
in  the  North  representatives  represent  men,  in  the  South 
the  representatives  stand  for  men  and  property  together. 
I  want  to  drop  a  word  as  an  egg  for  you  to  brood  over. 
It  will  illustrate  the  policy  of  the  South.  The  proposition 
to  make  a  government  undeniably  National,  as  distinct 
from  a  mere  Confederacy,  came  from  Virginia  and  South 
Carolina.  The  North,  having  more  individuality,  was 
jealous  of  yielding  up  the  rights  of  the  separate  States ; 
but  the  South,  with  the  love  of  power  characteristic  of  the 
Normans,  wanted  to  have  a  National  government  in  dis 
tinction  to  a  Union  of  several  States.  In  result,  when 
the  National  government  was  established,  the  South  came 
into  power ;  and  for  fifty  years  everything  that  the  South 
said  should  be  done  has  been  done,  and  whatever  she 
said  should  not  be  done,  has  not  been  done.  The  institu 
tions  of  America  were  shaped  by  the  North ;  but  the 
policy  of  her  government,  for  half  a  hundred  years,  by  the 
South.  All  the  aggression  and  fillibustering,  all  the 
threats  to  England  and  tauntings  of  Europe,  all  the 
bluster  of  war  which  our  government  has  assumed,  have 
been  under  the  inspiration  and  under  the  almost  mo 
narchical  sway  of  the  Southern  oligarchy.  And  now,  since 
Britain  has  been  snubbed  by  the  Southerners,  and  threat- 


32  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

ened  by  the  Southerners,  and  domineered  over  by  the 
Southerners — ("  No  ") — yet  now  Great  Britain  has  thrown 
her  arms  of  love  around  the  Southerners,  and  turns  from  the 
Northerners.  ("No.")  She  don't?  I  have  only  to  say  that 
she  has  been  caught  in  very  suspicious  circumstances. 
(Laughter.)  I  so  speak,  perhaps  as  much  as  anything  else, 
for  this  very  sake — to  bring  out  from  you  this  expression — 
to  let  you  know  what  we  know,  that  all  the  hostility  felt  in 
my  country  towards  Great  Britain  has  been  sudden,  and 
from  supposing  that  you  sided  with  the  South,  and  sought 
the  breaking  up  of  our  country ;  and  I  want  you  to  say  to 
me,  and  through  me  to  my  countrymen,  that  those  irrita 
tions  against  the  North,  and  those  likings  for  the  South, 
that  have  been  expressed  in  your  papers,  are  not  the  feel 
ings  of  the  great  mass  of  your  nation.  (Great  cheering 
the  audience  rising.)  Those  cheers  already  sound  in  my 
ears  as  the  coming  acclamations  of  friendly  nations — 
those  waving  handkerchiefs  are  the  white  banners  that 
symbolize  peace  for  all  countries.  Join  with  us  then, 
Britons.  From  you  we  learnt  the  doctrine  of  what  a  man 
was  worth ;  from  you  we  learnt  to  detest  all  oppressions ; 
from  you  we  learnt  that  it  was  the  noblest  thing  a  man 
could  do^xo  DIE  FOR  A  RIGHT  PRINCIPLE.  (Cheers.)  And 
now,  when  we  are  set  in  that  very  course,  and  are  giving 
our  best  blood  for  the  most  sacred  principles,  let  the 
world  understand  that  the  common  people  of  Great 
Britain  support  us.  You  have  been  pleased  to  say  in  this 
address  that  I  have  been  one  of  the  "  pioneers."  No.  I 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  33 

am  only  one  of  their  eldest  sons.  The  Birneys,  the  Bai 
leys,  the  Rankins,  the  Dickeys,  the  Thorns  of  the  West? 
the  Garrisons,  the  Quincys,  the  Slades,  the  Welds,  the 
Stewarts,  the  Smiths,  the  Tappans,  the  Goodalls  of  the 
East,  and  unnamed  hundreds  more,  these  were  indeed 
pioneers.  I  unloosed  the  shoe-latchets  of  the  pioneers, 
and  that  is  all :  I  was  but  little  more  than  a  boy  :  I  bear 
witness  that  the  hardest  blows,  and  the  most  cruel  suf 
ferings  were  endured  by  men,  before  I  was  thrust  far 
enough  into  public  life  to  take  any  particular  share ;  and 
I  do  not  consider  myself  entitled  to  rank  amongst  the 
pioneers.  They  were  better  men  than  I.  Those  noble 
men  did  resist  this  downward  tendency  of  the  North. 
They  were  rejected  by  society.  To  be  called  an  abo 
litionist  excluded  a  man  from  respectable  society  in  those 
days.  To  be  called  an  abolitionist  blighted  any  man's 
prospects  in  political  life.  To  be  called  an  abolitionist 
marked  a  man's  store, — his  very  customers  avoided  him 
as  if  he  had  the  plague.  To  be  called  an  abolitionist  in 
those  days  shut  up  the  doors  of  confidence  from  him  in 
the  church ;  where  he  was  regarded  as  a  disturber  of  the 
peace.  Nevertheless,  the  witnesses  for  liberty  maintained 
their  testimony.  (Loud  cheers.)  Little  by  little,  they 
reached  the  conscience, — they  gained  the  understanding. 
And  as,  when  old  Luther  spoke,  thundering  in  the  ears  of 
Europe  the  long  buried  treasures  of  the  Bible,  there  were 
hosts  against  him,  yet  the  elect  few  gathered  little  by 
little,  and  became  no  longer  few ;  just  so  did  many  a 
3 


34 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


Luther  among  ourselves  thunder  forth  a  long  buried  truth 
from  God,  the  essential  right  of  human  liberty ;  and  these 
were  followed  for  half  a  score  of  years,  until  they  began  to 
be  numerous  enough  to  be  an  influential  party  in  the  State 
elections.  In  1848,  I  think  it  was,  that  the  Buffalo  plat 
form  was  laid.  It  was  the  first  endeavor  in  the  Northern 
States  to  form  a  platform  that  should  carry  rebuke  to  the 
slave-holding  ideas  in  the  North.  Before  this,  however, 
I  can  say  that,  under  God,  the  South  itself  had  uninten 
tionally  done  more  than  we,  to  bring  on  this  work  of 
emancipation.  First,  they  began  to  declare,  after  the 
days  of  Mr.  Calhoun,  that  they  accepted  slavery  no  longer 
as  a  misfortune,  but  as  a  divine  blessing.  Mr.  Calhoun 
advanced  the  doctrine,  which  is  now  the  marrow  of  seces 
sion,  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  general  government  not 
merely  to  protect  the  local  States  from  interference  but  to 
make  slavery  equally  national  with  liberty!  In  effect, 
the  government  was  to  see  to  it  that  slavery  received 
equivalents  for  every  loss  and  disadvantage,  which,  by 
the  laws  of  nature,  it  must  sustain  in  a  race  against  free 
institutions.  These  monstrous  doctrines  began  to  be  the 
development  of  future  ambitions.  The  South,  having  the 
control  of  government,  knew  from  the  inherent  weakness 
of  their  system,  that,  if  it  were  confined,  it  was  like  huge 
herds  feeding  on  small  pastures,  that  soon  gnaw  the  grass 
to  the  roots,  and  must  have  other  pasture  or  die.  Slavery 
is  of  such  a  nature,  that,  if  you  do  not  give  it  continual 
qhange  of  feeding  ground,  it  perishes.  (Cheering.)  And! 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863,  '  35 

then  came  one  after  another  from  the  South,  assertions  of 
rights  never  before  dreamed  of.  From  them  came  the 
Mexican  war  for  territory ;  from  them  came  the  annexa 
tion  of  Texas  and  its  entrance  as  a  slave  State;  from 
them  came  that  organized  rowdyism  in  Congress  that 
brow-beat  every  Northern  man  who  had  not  sworn  fealty 
to  slavery ;  that  filled  all  the  courts  of  Europe  with  minis 
ters  holding  slave  doctrines ;  that  gave  the  majority  of 
the  seats  on  the  bench  to  slave- owning  judges  ;  and  that 
gave,  in  fact,  all  our  chief  offices  of  trust  either  to  slave 
owners,  or  to  men  who  licked  the  feet  of  slave-owners. 
Then  came  that  ever-memorable  period  when,  for  the  very 
purpose  of  humbling  the  North,  and  making  it  drink  the 
bitter  cup  of  humiliation,  and  showing  to  its  people  that 
the  South  was  their  natural  lord,  was  passed  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill.  (Loud  hisses.)  There  was  no  need  of  that. 
There  was  already  existing  just  as  good  an  instrument  for 
so  infernal  a  purpose  as  any  fiend  could  have  wished. 
Against  that  infamy  my  soul  revolted,  and  these  lips  pro 
tested,  and  I  defied  the  government  to  its  face  and  told 
them  "I  will  execute  none  of  your  unrighteous  laws; 
send  to  me  a  fugitive  who  is  fleeing  from  his  master,  and 
I  will  step  between  him  and  his  pursuer."  (Loud  and 
prolonged  cheers.)  Not  once,  nor  twice,  have  my  doors 
been  shut  between  oppression  and  the  oppressed;  and 
the  church  itself  over  which  I  minister  has  been  the 
unknown  refuge  of  many  and  many  a  one.  (Cheers.) 
But  whom  the  devil  entices  he  cheats.  Our  promised 


36  HENRY  WAKb  &  EEC  HER  '£  SPEECHES 

"  peace  "  with  the  South,  which  was  the  thirty  pieces  of 
silver  paid  to  us,  turned  into  fire  and  burnt  the  hands 
that  took  it.  For,  how  long  was  it  after  this  promised 
peace  that  the  Missouri  compromise  was  abolished  in  an 
infamous  disregard  of  solemn  compact  ?  It  never  ought 
to  have  been  made  ;  but  having  been  made,  it  ought 
never  to  have  been  broken  by  the  South.  And  with  no 
other  pretence  than  the  robber's  pretence  that  might 
makes  right,  they  did  destroy  it,  that  they  might  carry 
slavery  far  North.  That  sufficed.  That  alone  was  needed 
to  arouse  the  long  reluctant  patriotism  of  the  North.  In 
hope  that  time  would  curb  and  destroy  slavery,  that  for 
bearance  would  lead  to  like  forbearance,  the  North  had 
suffered  insult,  wrong,  political  treachery,  and  risk  to  her 
very  institutions  of  liberty.  By  the  abolition  of  this  com 
promise  another  slave  State  was  immediately  to  have  been 
brought  into  the  Union  to  balance  the  ever  growing  free 
territories  of  the  North-west.  Then  arose  a  majesty  of 
self-sacrifice  that  had  no  parallel  before.  Instead  of 
merely  protesting,  young  men  and  maidens,  laboring  men, 
farmers,  mechanics,  sped  with  a  sacred  desire  to  rescue 
free  territory  from  the  toils  of  slavery ;  and  emigrated  in 
thousands,  not  to  better  their  own  condition,  but  in  order 
that,  when  this  territory  should  vote,  it  should  vote  as  a 
free  State.  (Loud  cheers.)  Never  was  a  worse  system 
of  cheating  practised  than  the  perjury,  intimidation,  and 
prostituted  use  of  the  United  States  army,  by  which  the 
South  sought  to  force  a  vile  institution  upon  the  men  who 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  37 

had  voted  almost  unanimously  for  liberty  and  against 
slavery  in  Kansas.  But  at  last  the  day  of  utter  darkness 
had  passed,  and  the  gray  twilight  was  on  the  morning 
horizon.  At  length  (for  the  first  time,  I  believe,  in  the 
whole  conflict  between  the  South  and  the  North),  the 
victory  went  to  the  North,  and  Kansas  became  a  free 
State.  (Cheers.)  Now  I  call  you  to  witness  that,  in  a 
period  of  twenty-five  or  thirty  years  of  constant  conflicts 
with  the  South,  at  every  single  step  they  gained  the  polit 
ical  advantage,  with  the  single  exception  of  Kansas. 
What  was  the  conduct  of  the  North?  Did  it  take  any 
steps  for  secession  ?  Did  it  threaten  violence  ?  So  sure 
were  the  men  of  the  North  of  the  ultimate  triumph  of  that 
which  was  Right,  provided  free  speech  was  left  to  combat 
error  and  Wrong,  that  they  patiently  bided  their  time. 
By  this  time  the  North  was  cured  alike  of  love  for  slavery 
and  of  indifference.  By  this  time  a  new  conscience  had 
been  formed  in  the  North,  and  a  vast  majority  of  all  the 
Northern  men  at  length  stood  fair  and  square  on  anti- 
slavery  doctrine.  We  next  had  to  flounder  through  the 
quicksands  of  four  infamous  years  under  President  Bu 
chanan,  in  which  senators,  sworn  to  the  constitution,  were 
plotting  to  destroy  that  constitution ;  in  which  the  mem 
bers  of  the  cabinet,  who  drew  their  pay  month  by  month, 
used  their  official  position,  by  breach  of  public  trust  and 
oath  of  allegiance,  to  steal  arms,  to  prepare  fortifications, 
and  make  ready  disruption  and  war.  The  most  astound 
ing  spectacle  that  the  world  ever  saw  was  then  witnessed 


38  ttENKY  WARD  BEECHER  *S  SPEECHES 

— a  great  people  paying  men  to  sit  in  the  places  of  power 
and  office  to  betray  them.  During  all  those  four  years 
what  did  we  ?  We  protested  and  waited,  and  said  :  "  God 
shall  give  us  the  victory.  It  is  God's  truth  that  we  wield, 
and  in  his  own  good  time,  He  will  give  us  the  victory." 
In  all  this  time  we  never  made  an  inroad  on  the  rights  of 
the  South.  We  never  asked  for  retaliatory  law.  We 
never  taxed  their  commerce,  or  touched  it  with  our  little 
finger.  We  envied  them  none  of  their  manufactures;  but 
sought  to  promote  them.  We  did  not  attempt  to  abate  by 
one  ounce,  their  material  prosperity ;  we  longed  for  their 
prosperity.  Slavery  we  always  hated ;  the  Southern  men 
never.  (Cheers.)  They  were  wrong.  And  in  our  con 
flicts  with  them  we  have  felt  as  all  men  in  conflict  feel. 
We  were  jealous,  and  so  were  they.  We  were  in  the 
right  cause  ;  they  in  the  wrong.  We  were  right,  or  liberty 
is  a  delusion ;  they  were  wrong,  or  slavery  is  a  blessing. 
We  never  envied  them  their  territory;  and  it  was  the 
faith  of  the  whole  North,  that,  in  seeking  for  the  abate 
ment  of  slavery,  and  its  final  abolition,  we  were  confer 
ring  upon  the  South  itself  the  greatest  boon  which  one 
nation — or  part  of  a  nation — could  confer  upon  another. 
That  she  was  to  pass  through  difficulties  in  her  transition 
to  free  labor,  I  had  no  doubt;  but  it  was  not  in  our 
heart  to  humble  her,  but  rather  to  help  and  sympathize 
with  her.  I  defy  time  and  history  to  point  to  a  more  hon 
orable  conduct  than  that  of  the  free  North  towards  the 
South  during  all  these  days.  In  1860  Mr.  Lincoln  was 


W  ENGLAND*JN  1863.  39 

elected.  (Cheers.)  I  ask  you  to  take  notice  of  the  con 
duct  of  the  two  sides  at  this  point.  For  thirty  years  we 
had  been  experiencing  sectional  defeats  at  the  hands  of 
the  Southerners.  For  thirty  years  and  more  we  had  seen 
our  sons  proscribed  because  loyal  to  liberty,  or  worse 
than  proscribed — suborned  and  made  subservient  to  sla 
very.  We  had  seen  our  judges  corrupt,  our  ministers 
apostate,  our  merchants  running  headlong  after  gold 
against  principle ;  but  we  maintained  fealty  to  the  law 
and  to  the  constitution,  and  had  faith  in  victory  by  legiti 
mate  means.  But  when,  by  the  means  pointed  out  in  the 
constitution,  and  sanctified  by  the  usage  of  three-quarters 
of  a  century,  Mr.  Lincoln,  in  fair  open  field,  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States,  did  the  South  submit  ? 
(Cries  of  "  No,"  and  cheers.)  No  offence  had  been  com 
mitted — none  threatened ;  but  the  allegation  was,  that 
the  election  of  a  man  known  to  be  pledged  against  the 
extension  of  slavery  was  not  compatible  with  the  safety  of 
slavery  as  it  existed.  On  that  ground  they  took  steps  for 
secession.  Every  honest  mode  to  prevent  it,  all  patience 
on  the  part  of  the  North,  all  pusillanimity  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Buchanan,  were  anxiously  employed.  Before  his  suc 
cessor  came  into  office  he  left  nothing  undone  to  make 
matters  worse,  did  nothing  to  make  things  better.  The 
North  was  patient  then,  the  South  impatient.  Soon  came 
the  issue.  The  question  was  put  to  the  South,  and  with 
the  exception  of  South  Carolina,  every  State  in  the  South 
gave  a  popular  vote  against  secession ;  and  yet,  such  was 


40  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

the  jugglery  of  political  haders,  that  before  a  few  months 
had  passed,  they  had  precipitated  every  State  into  seces 
sion.  That  never  could  have  occurred  had  there  been  in 
the  Southern  States  an  educated  common  people.  But  the 
slave  power  cheats  the  poor  whites  of  intelligence,  in 
order  to  rob  the  poor  blacks.  This  is  important  testi 
mony  to  the  nature  and  tendency  of  the  Union  and  Gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States ;  and  reveals  clearly,  by  the 
judgment  of  the  very  men  who  of  all  others  best  know, 
that  to  maintain  the  Union  is,  in  the  end,  to  destroy  slav 
ery.  It  justifies  the  North  against  the  slanders  of  those 
who  declare  that  she  is  not  fighting  for  liberty,  but  only 
for  the  Union — as  if  that  were  not  the  very  way  to  de 
stroy  slavery  and  establish  freedom  !  The  government  of 
the  United  States  is  such  that,  if  it  be  administered  equi 
tably,  in  the  long  run  it  will  destroy  slavery ;  and  it  was 
the  foresight  of  this  which  led  the  South  to  its  precipitate 
secession.  Against  all  these  facts,  it  is  attempted  to 
make  England  believe  that  slavery  has  had  nothing  to  do 
with  this  war.  You  might  as  well  have  attempted  to  per 
suade  Noah  that  the  clouds  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
flood ;  it  is  the  most  monstrous  absurdity  ever  born  in  the 
womb  of  folly.  (Cheers.)  Nothing  to  do  with  slavery? 
It  had  to  do  with  nothing  else.  Against  this  withering  fact 
— against  this  damning  allegation — what  is  their  escape  ? 
They  reply — the  North  is  just  as  bad  as  the  South.  Now 
we  are  coming  to  the  marrow  of  it.  If  the  North  is  as 
bad  as  the  South,  why  did  not  the  South  find  it  out  before 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1861.  41 

you  did  ?  If  the  North  had  been  in  favor  of  oppressing 
the  black  man,  and  just  as  much  in  favor  of  slavery  as 
the  South,  how  is  it  that  the  South  has  gone  to  war 
against  the  North  because  of  their  belief  to  the  contrary? 
Gentlemen,  I  hold  in  my  hand  a  published  report  of  the 
speech  of  the  amiable,  intelligent,  and  credulous  Presi 
dent,  I  believe,  of  the  Society  for  Southern  Independence. 
There  are  some  curiosities  in  it.  (Laughter.)  That  you 
may  know  that  Southerners  are  not  all  dead  yet,  I  will 
read  a  paragraph  : — 

The  South  had  labored  hitherto  under  the  imputation, 
and  it  had  constantly  been  thrown  in  the  teeth  of  all  who 
supported  that  struggling  nation,  that  they  by  their  pro 
ceedings  were  tending  to  support  the  existence  of  slavery. 
This  was  an  impression  which  he  thought  they  ought  care 
fully  to  endeavor  to  remove — (cheers  and  laughter) — be 
cause  it  was  one  which  was  injurious  to  their  cause — not 
only  among  those  who  had  the  feeling  of  all  Englishmen — 
of  a  horror  of  slavery — but,  also,  because  strong  religious 
bodies  in  this  country  made  a  point  of  it,  and  felt  it  very 
strongly  indeed. 

I  never  like  to  speak  behind  a  man's  back — I  like  to 
speak  to  men's  faces  what  I  have  to  say — and  I  could 
wish  that  the  happiness  had  been  accorded  to  me  to-night 
to  have  Lord  Wharncliffe  present,  that  I  might  address  to 
him  a  few  simple  Christian  inquiries.  For  there  can  be 
no  question  that  there  is  a  strong  impression  that  the 
South  has  "  supported  the  existence  of  slavery."  Indeed, 
on  our  side  of  the  water  there  are  many  persons  that 
affirm  it.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  And,  as  his  lordship 


42  tfENRY  WARD  B EEC HER  >S  SPEECHES 

thinks  that  it  is  the  peculiar  duty  of  the  new  association 
to  do  away  with  that  sad  error,  I  beg  to  submit  to  it,  that 
in  the  first  place  it  ought  to  do  away  with  four  million 
slaves  in  the  South  ;  for  there  are  uncharitable  men  liv 
ing  who  think  that  a  nation  that  has  four  million  slaves, 
has  at  least  some  "  tendency  "  to  support  slavery.     And 
when  his  lordship's  association  has  done  that,  it  might  be 
pertinent  to  suggest  to  him,  instantly  to  revise  the  new 
"Montgomery"    constitution     of    the    South,    which    is 
changed  from  the  old  Federal  constitution  in  only  one  or 
two  points.     The  most  essential  point    is,  that  it  for  the 
first  time  introduces  an  /  legalizes  slavery  as  a  national  tmi*- 
tution,  and  makes  it  unconstitutional  ever  to  do    it  away. 
Now,  I  submit,  that  this  wants  polishing  a  little.  (Cheers.) 
Then  I  would  also  respectfully  lay  at  his  lordship's  feet- 
more  beautifully  embossed,  if  I  could,  than  is  this  address 
to  me — the  speech  of  Vice-President   Stephens,  in  which 
he  declares  that  all  nations  have  been  mistaken,  and  that 
to  trample  on  the  manhood  of  an  inferior  "race  is  the  only 
proper  way  to  maintain  the  liberty  of  a  superior  ;  in  which 
he  lays  down  to  Calvary  a  new  lesson ;  in  which  he  gives 
the  lie  to  the  Saviour  himself,  who  came  to  teach  us,  that 
by  as  much  as  a  man  is  stronger  than  another,  he  owes 
himself  to  that  other.     Not  alone  are  Christ's  blood-drops 
our  salvation,  but  those  word-drops  of  sacred  truth,  which 
cleanse  the  heart  and  conscience  by  precious  principles, 
these   also  are  to  us  salvation;  and  if  there  be  in  the 
truths  of  Christ  one  more  eminent  than  another,  it  is, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1861.  ** 

"  He  that  would  be  chief,  let  him  be  the  servant  of  all" 
But  this  audacious  hierarch  of  an  anti-Christian  gospel, 
Mr.  Stephens, — in  the  face  of  God,  and  to  the  ears  of  all 
mankind,  in  this  day  of  all  but  universal  Christian  senti 
ment,  pronounces  that  for  a  nation  to  have  manhood,  it 
must  crush  out  the  liberty  of  an  inferior  and  weaker  race. 
And  he  declares  ostentatiously  and  boastingly  that  t*he 
foundation  of  the  Southern  republic  is  ON  THAT  CORNER 
STONE.  (Loud  cheers,  "  No,  no,"  and  renewed  cheers.) 
When  next  Lord  WharnclifTe  speaks  for  the  edification  of 
this  English  people,  I  beg  leave  to  submit  that  this 
speech  of  Mr.  Stephens's  requires  more  than  a  little 
polishing  ;  in  fact,  a  little  scouring,  cleansing,  and  flood 
ing.  (Applause.)  And  if  all  the  other  crimson  evidences 
that  the  South  is  upholding  slavery  are  to  be  washed  pure 
by  the  new  association,  not  Hercules  in  the  Augean  sta 
ble  had  such  a  task  before  him  as  they  have  got.  Lord 
Wharncliffe  may  bid  farewell  to  the  sweets  of  domestic 
leisure  and  to  the  interests  of  state.  All  his  amusement 
hereafter  must  be  derived  from  the  endeavor  to  purge  the 
Southern  cause  of  the  universal  conviction  that,  "  by  their 
proceedings,  they  are  tending  to  support  the  existence  of 
slavery."  But  there  is  another  paragraph  that  I  will 
read : — 


He  believed  that  the  strongest  supporters  of  slavery 
were  the  merchants  of  New  York  and  Boston.  He  always 
understood,  and  had  never  seen  the  statement  contra 
dicted,  that  the  whole  of  the  ships  fitted  out  for  the  trans. 


44  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

port  of  slaves  from  Africa  to  Cuba  were  owned  by  North 
erners. 

His  lordship,  if  he  will  do  me  the  honor  to  read  my 
speech,  shall  hear  it  contradicted  in  the  most  explicit 
terms.  There  have  been  enough  Northern  ships  engaged, 
but  not  by  any  means  all,  nor  the  most.  Baltimore  has 
a  pre-eminence  in  that  matter ;  Charleston,  and  New 
Orleans,  and  Mobile,  all  of  them.  And  those  ships  fitted 
out  in  New  York  were  just  as  much  despised,  and  loathed, 
and  hissed  by  the  honorable  merchants  of  that  great  me 
tropolis,  as  if  they  had  put  up  the  black  flag  of  piracy. 
(Loud  cheers.)  Does  it  conduce  to  good  feeling  between 
two  nations  to  utter  slanders  such  as  these  ?  His  lord 
ship  goes  on  to  say, — 

That  in  the  Northern  States  the  slave  is  placed  in  even 
a  worse  position  than  in  the  South.  He  spoke  from  ex 
perience,  having  visited  the  country  twice. 

I  am  most  surprised,  and  yet  gratified,  to  learn  that  Lord 
Wharncliffe  speaks  of  the  suffering  of  the  slave  from  expe 
rience.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  I  never  was  aware  that 
he  had  been  put  in  that  unhappy  situation.  Has  he  toiled 
on  the  sugar  plantation  ?  Has  he  taken  the  night  for  his 
friend,  avoiding  the  day  ?  Has  he  sped  through  cane 
brakes,  hunted  by  hounds,  suffering  hunger,  and  heat,  and 
cold  by  turns,  until  he  has  made  his  way  to  the  far  North. 
ern  States  ?  Has  he  had  this  experience  ?  It  is  the  word 
experience  I  call  attention  to.  If  his  lordship  says  that  it 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1861. 


45 


is  his  observation,  I  will  accept  the  correction.  I  con 
tinue  : — 

In  railway  carriages  and  hotels  the  negroes  were  treated 
as  pariahs  and  outcasts,  and  never  looked  upon  as  men 
and  brothers,  but  rather  as  dogs. 

In  all  railway  cars  where  Southerners  travel,  in  all  hotels 
where  Southerners'  money  was  the  chief  support,  this  is 
true.  But  I  concede  most  frankly,  that  there  has  been 
occasion  for  such  a  statement  :  there  has  been  a  vicious 
prejudice  in  the  North  against  the  negro.  It  has  been  a 
part  of  my  duty  for  the  last  sixteen  years  to  protest 
against  it.  No  decently  dressed  and  well-behaved  colored 
man  has  ever  had  molestation  or  question  on  entering  my 
church,  and  taking  any  seat  he  pleases ;  not  because  I 
had  influence  with  my  people  to  prevent  it,  but  because 
God  gave  me  a  people  whose  own  good  sense  and  con 
science  led  them  aright  without  me.  But  from  this  van 
tage  ground  it  has  been  my  duty  to  mark  out  the  unright 
eous  prejudice  from  which  the  colored  people  have  suf 
fered  in  the  North  ;  and  it  is  a  part  of  the  great  moral 
revolution  which  is  going  on,  that  the  prejudices  have 
been  in  a  great  measure  vanquished,  and  are  now  well 
nigh  trodden  down.  In  the  city  of  New  York  there  is 
one  street  railroad  where  colored  people  cannot  ride,  but 
in  the  others  they  may,  and  in  all  the  railroads  of  New 
England  there  is  not  one  in  which  a  colored  man  would 
be  questioned.  I  believe  that  the  colored  man  may  start 
from  the  line  of  the  British  dominions  in  the  North  and 


.g  HENRY  WARD  PEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

traverse  all  New  England  and  New  York  till  he  touches 
the  waters  of  the  Western  lakes  and  never  be  molested  or 
questioned,  passing  on  as  any  decent  white  man  would 
pass.  But  let  me  ask  you  how  came  there  to  be  these 
prejudices  ?  They  did  not  exist  before  the  War  of  Inde 
pendence.  How  did  they  grow  up  ?  As  one  of  the  ac 
cursed  offshoots  of  slavery.  Where  you  make  a  race  con 
temptible  by  oppression,  all  that  belong  to  that  race  will 
participate  in  the  odium,  whether  they  be  free  or  slave. 
The  South  itself,  by  maintaining  the  oppressive  institu 
tion,  is  the  guilty  cause  of  whatever  insult  the  free  African 
has  had  to  endure  in  the  North. 

How  next  did  that  prejudice  grow  strong  ?  It  was  on 
account  of  the  multitude  of  Irishmen  who  came  to  the 
States.  (Cheers  and  interruption.)  I  declare  my  admi 
ration  for  the  Irish  people,  who  have  illustrated  the  page 
of  history  in  every  department  of  society.  It  is  part  of 
the  fruit  of  ignorance,  and,  as  they  allege,  of  the  oppres 
sion  which  they  have  suffered — that  it  has  made  them  op 
pressors.  I  bear  witness  that  there  is  no  class  of  people 
in  America  who  are  so  bitter  against  the  colored  people, 
and  so  eager  for  slavery,  as  the  ignorant,  the  poor,  unin- 
structed  Irishmen.  ("Oh,"  and  "hear,"  and  "Three 
cheers  for  old  Ireland.")  But  although  there  have  been 
wrongs  done  to  them  in  the  North,  the  condition  of  the 
free  colored  people  in  the  North  is  unspeakably  better 
than  in  the  South.  They  own  their  wives  and  children. 
They  have  the  right  to  select  their  place  and  their  kind 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1861.  47 

of  labor ;  their  lights  of  property  are  protected  just  as 
much  as  ours  are.  The  right  of  education  is  accorded  to 
them.  There  is  in  the  city  of  New  York  more  than  ten 
million  dollars  of  property  owned  by  free  colored  people. 
They  have  their  own  schools ;  they  have  their  own 
churches ;  their  own  orators,  and  there  is  no  more  gifted 
man,  and  no  man  whose  superb  eloquence  more  deserves 
to  be  listened  to  than  Frederick  Douglass.  (Loud 
cheers.)  Further :  after  the  breaking  out  of  this  war, 
the  good  conduct  of  the  slaves  at  the  South  and  of  the 
free  colored  people  at  the  North,  has  increased  the  kind 
feelings  of  the  whites  towards  them  ;  and  since  they 
have  begun  to  fight  for  their  rights  of  manhood,  a  popu 
lar  enthusiasm  for  them  is  arising.  I  will  venture  to  say, 
that  there  is  no  place  on  the  earth  where  millions  of  col 
ored  people  stand  in  a  position  so  auspicious  for  the  fut 
ure,  as  the  free  colored  men  of  the  North  and  the  freed 
slaves  of  the  South.  I  meant  to  have  said  a  good  deal 
more  to  you  than  I  have,  or  than  I  shall  have  time  to 
say.  ("  Go  on.")  I  have  endeavored  to  place  before  you 
some  of  the  facts  which  show  that  slavery  was  the  real 
cause  of  this  war,  and  that  if  it  had  to  be  legally  decided 
whether  North  or  South  were  guilty  in  this  matter,  there 
could  be  no  question  "before  any  honorable  tribunal,  any 
jury,  any  deliberative  body,  that  the  South,  from  begin 
ning  to  end,  for  the  sake  of  slavery,  has  been  aggressive, 
and  the  North  patient.  Since  the  war  broke  out  the 
North  has  been  more  and  more  coming  upon  the  high 


48 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


ground  of  moral  principle,  until  at  length  the  government 
has  decreed  emancipation.  It  has  been  said  very  often 
in  my  hearing,  and  I  have  read  it  oftener  since  I  have 
been  in  England — the  last  reading  I  had  of  it  was  from 
the  pen  of  Lord  Brougham — that  the  North  is  fighting 
for  the  Union,  and  not  for  the  emancipation  of  the  Afri 
can.  Why  are  we  fighting  for  the  Union,  but  because 
we  believe  that  the  Union  and  its  government,  adminis 
tered  now  by  Northern  men,  will  work  out  the  emancipa 
tion  of  every  living  being  on  the  'continent  of  America. 
If  it  be  meant  that  the  North  went  into  this  war  with  the 
immediate  object  of  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves,  I 
answer  that  it  never  professed  to  do  it ;  but  it  went 
into  war  for  the  Union,  with  the  distinct  and  expressed 
conviction  on  both  sides,  that,  if  the  Union  were  main 
tained,  slavery  could  not  live  long.  Do  you  suppose 
that  it  is  wise  to  separate  the  interest  of  the  slave  from 
the  interest  of  the  other  people  on  the  continent,  and 
to  inaugurate  a  policy  which  takes  in  him  alone? 
He  must  stand  or  fall  with  all  of  us,  and  the  only  sound 
policy  for  the  North  is  that  which  shall  benefit  the  North, 
the  South,  the  blacks  and  the  whites.  We  hold  that  the 
maintenance  of  the  Union  as  expounded  in  its  funda 
mental  principles  by  the  declaration  of  independence  and 
the  constitution,  is  the  very  best  way  to  secure  to  the 
African  ultimately  his  rights  and  his  best  estate.  The 
North  was  like  a  ship  carrying  passengers,  tempest- 
tossed,  and  while  the  sailors  were  laboring,  and  the  cap- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  49 

tain  and  officers  directing,  some  grumblers  came  up  from 
amongst  the  passengers  and  said,  "  You  are  all  the  time 
working  to  save  the  ship,  but  you  don't  care  to  save  the 
passengers."  I  should  like  to  know  how  you  would  save 
the  passengers  so  well  as  by  taking  care  of  the  ship  ? 

[At  this  point  the  chairman  read  to  the  meeting  a  tele 
gram  relative  to  the  seizure  of  the  rams  at  Liverpool. 
The  effect  was  startling.  The  audience  rose  to  their  feet, 
while  cheer  after  cheer  was  given.] 

Allow  me  to  say  this  of  the  colored  people,  our  citizens 
(for  in  New  York  colored  people  vote,  as  they  do  also  in 
Massachusetts  and  in  several  other  Northern  States,  — 
Lord  Wharncliffe  notwithstanding)  : — it  is  a  subject  of 
universal  remark,  that  no  men  on  either  side  have  carried 
themselves  more  gallantly,  more  bravely,  than  the  colored 
regiments  that  have  been  fighting  for  their  government 
and  their  liberty.  My  own  youngest  brother  is  colonel  of 
one  of  those  regiments,  and  from  him  I  learn  many  most 
interesting  facts  concerning  them.  The  son  of  one  of  the 
most  estimable  and  endeared  of  my  friends  in  my  congre 
gation  was  the  colonel  of  the  regiment  which  scaled  the 
rampart  of  Fort  Wagner.  Colonel  Shaw  fell  at  the  head 
of  his  men — hundreds  fell — and  when  request  was  made 
for  his  body,  it  was  reported  by  the  Southern  men  in 
the  fort  that  he  had  been  "  buried  with  his  niggers  ;  "  and 
on  his  gravestone  yet  it  shall  be  written  :  "  The  man  that 
dared  to  lead  the  poor  and  the  oppressed  out  of  their  op 
pression,  died  with  them  and  for  them,  and  was  buried 
4 


r0  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

with  them."  (Cheers.)  On  the  Mississippi  the  conduct 
of  the  colored  regiments  is  so  good,  that,  although  many 
of  the  officers  who  command  them  are  Southern  men, 
and  until  recently  had  the  strongest  Southern  prej 
udices,  those  prejudices  are  almost  entirely  broken  down, 
and  there  is  no  difficulty  whatever  in  finding  officers, 
Northern  or  Southern,  to  take  command  of  just  as  many 
of  these  regiments  as  can  be  raised.  It  is  an  honorable 
testimony  to  the  good  conduct  and  courage  of  these  long- 
abused  men,  whom  God  is  now  bringing  by  the  Red  Sea 
of  war  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt  and  into  the  land  of 
promise.  I  have  said  that  it  would  give  me  great  pleas 
ure  to  answer  any  courteous  questions  that  might  be 
proposed  to  me.  If  I  cannot  answer  them  I  will  do 
the  next  best  thing, — tell  you  so.  The  length  to  which 
this  meeting  has  been  protracted,  and  the  very  great- 
conviction  that  I  seem  to  have  wrought  by  my  remarks 
on  this  Pentecostal  occasion  in  yonder  Gentile  crowd — 
(loud  laughter) — admonish  me  that  we  had  better  open 
some  kind  of  "  meeting  of  inquiry."  (Renewed  laughter.) 
It  will  give  me  great  pleasure,  as  a  gentleman,  to  receive 
questions  from  any  gentleman,  and  to  give  such  reply  as 
is  in  my  power. 

Mr.  Beecher  remained  standing  for  a  few  moments,  as 
if  to  give  the  opportunity  of  interrogation,  but  no  one 
rising  to  question  him,  he  sat  down  amidst  great  cheers. 
The  speech  lasted  nearly  two-and-a-quarter  hours. 

The   chairman   then    declared   the   business    of    the 


/AT  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  5  ! 

meeting  to  be  at  an  end,  and  expressed  his  thanks  for 
the  good  order  which  had  been  maintained,  contrary  to 
certain  ill-natured  predictions.  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 

The  usual  vote  of  thanks  was  then  tendered  to  the  pre 
siding  officer,  Mr.  Taylor;  the  National  Anthem  was 
played  on  the  organ,  and  the  audience  dispersed,  several 
hundreds  previously  pressing  round  Mr.  Beecher  to  shake 
hands  with  him. 


5  2  HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  >S  SPEECHES 


SPEECH    DELIVERED     IN     THE    CITY     HALL, 
GLASGOW,  OCTOBER  13,  1863. 

THE  subject  chosen  for  the  address  at  Glasgow  was 
"  The  American  Crisis,"  and  as  at  Manchester  the  build 
ing  was  filled  to  overflowing.  The  report  of  Mr. 
Beecher's  speech  at  Manchester  had  preceded  him,  and 
there  was  eager  curiosity  to  see  and  hear  the  great  Amer 
ican  orator.  The  opposition  in  Glasgow  differed  from 
that  of  Manchester  in  its  want  of  organization,  and  there 
was  lacking  the  disposition  to  be  unreasonable  or  unjust. 
The  speaker,  however,  was  not  to  have  all  plain  sailing  as 
the  following  report  will  show. 

A  short  introductory  address  was  made  by  Bailie 
Go  van,  in  the  course  of  which  he  said : 

I  am  quite  willing,  on  this  occasion,  to  leave  the  ad 
vocacy  of  the  North  to  our  distinguished  friend  who  is 
this  evening  to  address  us.  (Cheers.)  I  have  no  doubt 
that  he  has  come  here  to-night  fully  prepared  to  plead  the 
cause  of  his  country  with  all  that  eloquence  of  which  he 
is  the  master.  He  comes  among  us  because  of  the  ad 
miration,  and  respect,  and  love  that  he  feels  for  the 
British  nation.  He  has  not  been  an  abolitionist  only 
since  South  Carolina  voted  secession;  he  has  not  been 


ENGLAND  IN  1863.  53 

an  emancipationist  only  because  he  felt  that  emancipation 
was  necessary  to  carry  to  success  the  objects  of  the 
Union ;  but  ever  since  he  entered  into  public  life  his 
voice  has  been  raised  and  his  energies  have  been  devoted, 
in  troublous  times  as  in  peaceful  times,  in  times  of 
danger  to  himself  as  well  as  in  times  of  security  and 
safety,  in  behalf  of  the  down-trodden  humanity  of  the 
South.  I  have  no  doubt  that  when  he  rises  to  address 
you  he  will  speak  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  love  that  flows 
within  his  heart  towards  the  British  people,  and  he  would 
desire  to  have  from  you  such  a  reciprocation  of  that  feel 
ing  as  will  make  him  feel,  and  make  his  friends  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic  feel,  that  peace  and  amity 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  American  Republic 
must  be  eternal.  (Applause.)  I  will  not  longer  occupy 
your  time,  but  beg  to  introduce  to  the  meeting  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Anderson. 

Dr.  ANDERSON,  who  was  received  with  great  ap 
plause,  said, — There  are  two  things  which  would  be  ex 
ceedingly  preposterous  were  I  to  attempt  to  perpetrate 
them.  The  first  is,  were  I  to  attempt  to  engage  your 
attention  for  more  than  five  minutes,  if  even  so  many. 
The  second  is,  if  I  were  to  execute  the  commission  which 
friends  have,  I  think  very  foolishly,  entrusted  to  me,  to 
introduce  Mr.  Ward  Beecher.  Introduce  him  to  you !  I 
intend  to  introduce  you  to  him.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 
You  are  all  already,  to  a  very  great  extent,  familiar  with 
him.  All  that  you  need,  friends,  to  make  you  more 


54  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  *S  SPEECHES 

familiar  with  him  is  that  you  should  see  his  countenance 
and  hear  his  living  voice. 

Mr.  BEECHER,  who,  after  the  applause  with  which 
he  was  greeted  when  he  rose  had  subsided,  said, — Mr. 
Chairman,  ladies  and  gentlemen :  No  one  who  has 
been  born  and  reared  in  Scotland  can  know  the  feeling 
with  which,  for  the  first  time,  such  a  one  as  I  have 
visited  this  land,  classic  in  song  and  in  history.  I  have 
been  reared  in  a  country  whose  history  is  brief.  So  vast 
is  it,  that  one  might  travel  night  and  day  for  all  the  week, 
and  yet  scarcely  touch  historic  ground.  Its  history  is 
yet  to  be  written  ;  it  is  yet  to  be  acted.  But  I  come  to 
this  land,  which,  though  small,  is  as  full  of  memories  as 
the  heaven  is  of  stars,  and  almost  as  bright.  There  is 
not  the  most  insignificant  piece  of  water  that  does  not 
make  my  heart  thrill  with  some  story  of  heroism,  or  some 
remembered  poem  ;  for  not  only  has  Scotland  had  the 
good  fortune  to  have  had  men  that  knew  how  to  make 
heroic  history,  but  she  has  reared  those  bards  who  have 
known  how  to  sing  her  histories.  (Applause.)  And 
every  steep  and  every  valley,  and  almost  every  single 
league  on  which  my  feet  have  trod,  have  made  me  feel 
as  if  I  was  walking  in  a  dream.  I  never  expected  to  feel 
my  eyes  overflow  with  tears  of  gladness,  that  I  had  been 
permitted  in  the  prime  of  life  to  look  upon  dear  old  Scot 
land.  For  your  historians  have  taught  us  history, 
your  poets  thave  been  the  charm  of  our  firesides,  your 
theologians  have  enriched  our  libraries;  from  your 


IN1  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  5  5 

philosophers — Reid,  Brown,  and  Stewart — we  have  de 
rived  the  elements  of  our  philosophy  ;  and  your  scientific 
researches  have  greatly  stimulated  the  study  of  science 
in  our  land.  I  come  to  Scotland,  almost  as  a  pilgrim 
would  go  to  Jerusalem,  to  see  those  scenes  whose  story 
had  stirred  my  imagination  from  my  earliest  youth ;  and 
I  can  pay  no  higher  compliment  than  to  say  that, 
having  seen  some  part  of  Scotland  I  am  satisfied,  and 
permit  me  to  say  that  if,  when  you  know  me,  you  are  a 
thousandth  part  as  satisfied  with  me  as  I  am  with  you,  we 
shall  get  along  very  well  together.  And  yet,  although  I 
am  not  of  a  yielding  mood — (a  laugh) — nor  easily  daunted, 
I  have  some  embarrassment  in  speaking  to  you  to-night. 
I  know  very  well  that  there  are  not  a  few  things  which 
prevent  me  doing  a  good  work  among  you.  I  differ 
greatly  from  many  of  you.  I  respect,  although  I  will  not 
adopt,  your  opinions.  I  can  only  ask  as  much  from  you 
for  myself.  I  am  aware  that  a  personal  prejudice  has 
been  diligently  excited  against  me.  There  is  also  the 
vastness  of  the  subject  on  which  I  am  about  to  speak, 
and  the  dissimilar  institutions  of  the  two  countries  which 
stand  in  my  way.  There  are  also  those  perplexities 
which  arise  from  conflicting  statements  made  to  you. 
There  is  also  a  supposed  antagonism  between  British  and 
American  interests.  Now  I  shall  not  consider  any  of 
these  points  to-night  except  the  first.  It  is  not  a  pleasant 
avenue  to  a  speech  for  a  man  to  walk  through  himself. 
(Laughter.)  But  since  every  pains  is  taken  to  misrepre- 


56  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

sent  me,  let  me  once  for  all  deal  with  that  matter.  In 
my  own  land  I  have  been  the  subject  of  misrepresenta 
tion  and  abuse  so  long,  that  when  I  did  not  receive  it,  I 
felt  as  though  something  was  wanting  in  the  atmosphere. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  I  have  been  the  object  of 
misrepresentation  at  home,  simply  and  only  because  I 
have  been  arrayed  ever  since  I  had  a  voice  to  speak  and 
a  heart  to  feel — body  and  soul,  I  have  been  arrayed, 
without  regard  to  consequences  and  to  my  own  reputa 
tion  or  my  own  ease,  against  that  which  I  consider  the 
damning  sin  of  my  country  and  the  shame  of  human 
nature — slavery.  (Great  applause.)  I  thought  I  had  a 
right,  when  I  came  to  Great  Britain,  to  expect  a  different 
reception  ;  but  I  found  that  the  insidious  correspondence 
of  men  in  America  had  poisoned  the  British  mind,  and 
that  representations  had  been  made  which  predisposed 
men  to  receive  me  with  dislike.  And,  principally,  the 
representations  were  that  I  had  indulged  in  the  most 
offensive  language,  and  had  threatened  all  sorts  of  things 
against  Great  Britain.  Now  allow  me  to  say  that,  hav 
ing  examined  that  interesting  literature,  so  far  as  I  have 
seen  it  published  in  British  newspapers,  I  here  declare 
that  ninety-nine  out  of  one  hundred  parts  of  those  things 
that  I  am  charged  with  saying  I  never  said  and  never 
thought— they  are  falsehoods  wholly,  and  in  particular. 
(Great  applause.)  Allow  me  next  to  say  that  I  have 
been  accustomed  freely,  and  at  all  times,  at  home  to 
speak  what  I  thought  to  be  sober  truth  both  of  blame 


ENGLAND  IN  1863. 


57 


and  of  praise  of  Great  Britain,  and  if  you  do  not  want 
to  hear  a  man  express  his  honest  sentiments  fearlessly, 
then  I  do  not  want  to  speak  to  you.  If  I  never  spared 
my  own  country,  if  I  never  spared  the  American 
church,  nor  the  government,  nor  my  own  party,  nor  my 
personal  friends,  did  you  expect  I  would  treat  you  better 
than  I  did  those  of  my  own  country  ?  (Applause.)  For  I 
have  felt  from  the  first  that  I  hold  a  higher  allegiance 
than  any  I  owe  to  man — to  God,  and  to  that  truth  which 
is  God's  ordinance  in  human  affairs,  and  for  the  sake  of 
that  higher  truth,  I  have  loved  my  country,  but  I  have 
loved  truth  more  than  my  country.  I  have  heard  the 
voice  of  my  Master,  saying,  "  If  any  man  come  unto  me 
and  hate  not  father  and  mother,  and  brother,  and 
sister,  yea,  and  his  own  life  also,  he  is  not  worthy 
of  me."  When  therefore  the  cause  of  truth  and  jus 
tice  is  put  in  the  scale  against  my  own  country,  I 
would  disown  country  for  the  sake  of  truth;  and 
when  the  cause  of  truth  and  justice  is  put  in  the 
scale  against  Great  Britain,  I  would  disown  her  rather 
than  betray  what  I  understood  to  be  the  truth.  We  are 
bound  to  establish  liberty,  regulated  Christian  liberty,  as 
the  law  of  the  American  Continent.  This  is  our  des 
tiny,  this  is  that  towards  which  the  education  of 
the  rising  generation  has  been  more  and  more  assid 
uously  directed  as  the  peculiar  glory  of  America — 
to  destroy  slavery,  and  root  it  out  of  our  land,  and  to 
establish  in  its  place  a  discreet,  intelligent,  constitutional 


58  HENRY  WARD  BE  EC  HER  'S  SPEECHES 

regulated,  Christian  liberty.  We  have  accepted  this 
destiny  and  this  task  :  and  if  in  accomplishing  this  a  part 
of  our  own  people  opposes  us,  we  shall  go  right  against 
our  people  to  that  destiny.  If  France  undertakes  to 
interfere,  and  to  say  "  You  shall  not,"  much  as  we  would 
regret  to  be  at  war  with  any  nation  on  the  globe,  or 
with  France  in  particular,  who  befriended  us  in  our  early 
struggles  and  trials  ;  still  the  cause  of  liberty  is  dearer 
to  us  than  any  foreign  alliance,  and  we  shall  certainly 
say,  "  Stand  off,  this  is  our  work,  and  must  not  be  hin 
dered."  If  they  bring  war  to  us,  they  shall  have  war. 
For  no  foreign  nation  shall  meddle  with  impunity  with 
our  domestic  struggle.  If  Great  Britain  herself,  tied  to 
us  by  so  many  interests,  endeared  by  so  many  historic 
associations, — to  whom  we  can  never  pay  the  debt  of 
love  we  owe  her  for  those  men  who  wrought  out,  in  fire 
and  blood,  those  very  principles  of  civil  liberty  for  which 
we  are  now  contending, — yet,  if  even  Britain  shall  openly 
or  secretly  seek  the  establishment  on  our  national  ter 
ritory  of  an  Independent  slave-holding  empire,  we  will 
denounce  her  word  and  deed ; — and,  terrible  and  cruel 
as  will  be  the  necessity,  we  will,  if  we  must,  oppose  arms 
to  arms.  If  Great  Britain  is  for  slavery,  I  am  against 
Great  Britain.  (Cheers.)  If  Great  Britain  is  true  to 
her  instincts,  and  the  interests  of  her  illustrious  history, 
and  to  her  own  documents,  laws,  and  institutions  ;  if  she 
is  yet  in  favor  of  liberty,  as  she  has  always  been  here 
and  everywhere  in  the  world,  I  am  for  Great  Britain; 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  59 

and  shall  be  proud  of  my  blood  and  boast  that  I  have  a 
share  in  your  ancestral  glory.  My  prayer  shall  be  that 
Great  Britain  and  America,  joined  in  religion  and  in 
liberty,  may  march  shoulder  to  shoulder  in  the  grand 
enterprise  of  bearing  the  blessings  of  religion  and  liberty 
around  the  globe.  The  Slave  States  may  be  divided 
into  two  classes — the  Farming  States  and  the  Plantation 
States.  The  farming  States  are  Delaware,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  Kentucky,  Missouri,  and  parts  of  Tennessee 
and  North  Carolina.  The  lands  there  are  devoted  to  a 
mixed  husbandry,  such  as  of  corn,  or  maize,  wheat,  oats, 
grass,  tobacco,  and  the  grazing  of  herds  of  cattle.  The 
farms  generally  are  not  large.  In  those  States  slave 
labor  is  not  profitable,  and  cannot  be  so.  Slave-breeding 
is  profitable,  but  not  the  labor  of  slaves.  The  plantation 
States  are  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Florida,  Alabama, 
Mississippi,  Louisiana,  Texas,  and  Arkansas — eight. 
These  States  do  not  pursue  a  mixed  husbandry.  They 
raise  principally  cotton,  sugar,  rice,  and  tobacco,  but 
chiefly  the  two  great  staples — cotton  and  sugar.  They 
buy  the  principal  part  of  their  food,  and  almost  all  manu 
factured  products.  The  pails  they  carry  their  water  in 
are  made  in  New  England ;  their  broom  handles,  their 
pins,  glass,  stone,  iron,  and  tinware,  and  all  their  house 
hold  furniture,  are  the  manufacture  of  the  North.  There 
are  some  local  exceptions,  but  what  I  state  is  substan 
tially  true  of  the  slave  States  of  the  extreme  South. 
Now,  consider  some  facts.  The  labor  of  slaves  in  the 


fo  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

farming  States  does  not  pay.  Why  ?  Because  mixed 
farming  requires  much  more  skill  than  slaves  have. 
Slave  labor  must  always  be  applied  to  the  production  of 
rude  and  raw  material.  You  cannot  go  much  farther 
than  that.  Slave  labor  is  rarely  ever  skilled  labor  ;  that 
would  require  too  much  brain,  and  its  development  is 
not  consistent  with  the  condition  of  the  slave.  More 
over,  slaves  are  too  costly.  In  the  farming  States  they 
are  better  off,  and  therefore  they  are  more  expensive  ; 
for  a  man  is  expensive  just  in  proportion  as  he  rises  in 
the  scale  of  civilization,  as  I  shall  show  you  more  at 
length  in  a  moment.  The  object  of  slavery,  therefore, 
in  the  Northern  slave  States  is  not  the  production  of 
tobacco,  or  corn,  or  maize,  or  wheat,  or  cattle,  or  dairy 
products  ; — the  whole  profit  of  slavery  in  the  Northern 
slave  States  is  in  breeding  slaves.  (Hear,  hear,  and  sen 
sation.)  Virginia  has  raised  as  much  as  $24,000,000  a 
year  for  slaves  sold  South.  I  will  read  you  the  testimony 
of  a  gentleman  from  the  slave  States.  The  editor  of  the 
Virginia  Times,  in  1836,  made  a  calculation  that  120,000 
slaves  went  out  of  the  State  during  the  year,  that  80,000 
of  them  went  with  their  owners  who  removed,  leaving 
40,000  who  were  sold,  at  an  average  price  of  $600, 
amounting  to  $24,000,000.  You  cannot  understand  any 
thing  about  slavery  until  you  are  admitted  into  the  secrets 
of  raising  slaves  as  colts  and  calves  are  raised  for  market, 
and  begin  to  see  the  inside  of  this,  the  most  detestable 
and  infernal  system  that  the  sun  ever  shone  upon.  But 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  6r 

you  may  say  that  this  is  so  only  in  Virginia.  I  ask  your 
attention  to  the  words  of  Henry  Clay.  In  1829  he  said 
before  the  Colonization  Society :  "  It  is  believed  that 
nowhere  in  the  farming  portions  of  the  United  States 
would  slave  labor  be  generally  employed  if  the  proprie 
tors  were  not  tempted  to  raise  slaves  by  the  high  prices 
of  the  Southern  market."  That  is  Mr.  Clay's  testimony, 
a  Kentuckian,  a  slave-holder,  and  certainly  he  ought  to 
know.  Political  reasons  also  help  to  keep  up  slavery  in 
these  States,  and  some  personal  reasons  of  which  I  shall 
not  speak.  These  Northern  slave  States  would  emanci 
pate  their  slaves  if  it  were  not  that  the  cotton  States  give 
them  a  market.  Gentlemen,  you  abhor  the  African  slave 
trade.  Let  me  tell  you  that  the  domestic  slave  trade 
of  America  is  unspeakably  worse.  Bred  amidst  churches, 
refinements,  and  comparative  civilization,  they  are  capable 
of  a  thousand  pangs  more  of  suffering  at  ruthless  separa 
tions  than  if  they  were  yet  but  savages.  I  call  your  at 
tention  to  a  few  propositions  then,  in  reference  to  slavery 
as  it  exists  in  the  extreme  Southern  States.  And  first, 
the  system  of  slavery  requires  ignorance  in  the  slave, 
and  not  alone  intellectual  but  moral  and  social  ignorance. 
Anybody  who  is  a  slave-holder  will  find  that  there  are 
reasons  which  will  compel  him  to  keep  slaves  in  igno 
rance,  if  he  is  going  to  keep  them  at  all.  Not  because 
intelligence  is  more  difficult  to  govern  ;  for  with  an  intelli 
gent  people  government  is  easier.  The  more  you  de 
velop  a  man's  intellect,  the  more  you  make  him  capable 


62  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  JS  SPEECHES 

of  self-government ;  and  the  more  you  keep  him  in  igno 
rance,  the  more  is  he  the  subject  of  arbitrary  government. 
Virtue  and  intelligence  compel  leniency  of  government ; 
but  ignorance  and  vice  compel  tyranny  in  government. 
These  things  follow  a  natural  law.  The  slave  would  not 
be  less  easily  governed,  if  he  were  educated.  If  the  slave 
holder  taught  him  to  read  and  write,  if  he  made  him  to 
know  what  he  ought  to  know  as  one  of  God's  dear  chil 
dren,  the  South  would  not  be  so  much  endangered 
by  insurrection  as  she  is  now.  There  is  nothing 
so  terrible  as  explosive  ignorance.  Men  without  an 
idea,  striking  blindly  and  passionately,  are  the  men  to  be 
feared.  Even  if  the  slaves  were  educated,  they  would  be 
better  slaves.  What  is  the  reason  then  that  slaves  must 
be  kept  in  ignorance  ?  The  real  reason  is  one  of  expense. 
In  order  to  make  slave  labor  profitable,  you  must  reduce 
the  cost  of  the  slave ;  for  the  difference  between  the  profit 
and  the  loss  turns  upon  the  halfpenny  per  pound.  If  the 
price  of  slaves  goes  up,  and  cotton  goes  down  a  shade  in 
price,  in  ordinary  times  the  planters  lose.  The  rule  is, 
therefore,  to  reduce  the  cost  of  the  man  ;  and  the  slave 
to  be  profitable  must  be  simply  a  working  creature. 
What  does  a  man  cost  that  is  a  slave  ?  Just  a  little  meal 
and  a  little  pork,  a  small  measure  of  the  coarsest  cloth 
and  leather,  that  is  all  he  costs.  Because  that  is  all  he 
needs — the  lowest  fare  and  the  scantiest  clothing.  He  is 
a  man  with  two  hands  and  two  feet,  and  a  belly.  That 
is  all  there  is  of  a  profitable  slave.  But  every  new 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  63 

development  within  him  which  religion  shall  make — the 
sense  of  fatherhood,  the  wish  for  a  home,  the  desire  to 
rear  his  children  well,  the  wish  to  honor  and  comfort  his 
wife,  every  taste,  every  sentiment,  every  aspiration,  will 
demand  some  external  thing  to  satisfy  it.  His  being 
augments.  He  demands  more  time.  He  strives  to 
organize  that  little  kingdom  in  which  every  human  being 
has  a  right  to  be  king,  in  which  love  is  crowned, — the 
family  !  It  is  this  that  makes  an  educated  slave  too  ex 
pensive  for  profit.  Profitable  slave-holding  requires  only 
so  much  intelligence  as  will  work  well,  and  only  so  much 
religion  as  will  make  men  patient  under  suffering  and 
abuse.  More  than  that — more  conscience,  more  am 
bition,  more  divine  ideas  of  human  nature,  of  men's  dig 
nity,  of  household  virtue,  of  Christian  refinement,  only 
make  the  slave  too  costly  in  his  tastes.  Not  only  does 
the  degradation  of  the  slave  pass  over  to  his  work,  but  it 
affects  all  labor,  even  when  performed  by  free  white  men. 
Throughout  the  South  there  is  the  most  marked  public 
disesteem  of  honest  homely  industry.  It  is  true  that  in 
the  mountainous  portions  of  the  South-west,  North  Caro 
lina,  Northern  Georgia,  Eastern  Tennessee,  and  Western 
Virginia,  where  slaves  are  few,  and  where  a  hardy  people 
for  the  most  part  perform  their  own  agricultural  labors, 
there  is  less  discredit  attached  to  homely  toil  than  in  the 
rich  alluvial  districts  where  sugar  and  cotton  culture  de 
mand  exclusive  slave  labor.  But  even  in  the  most  favored 
portions  of  the  South,  manual  labor  is  but  barely  re- 


64  //AWYi-r  WARD  BEECHE&S  SPEECHES 

deemed  from  the  taint  of  being  a  slave's  business,  and  no 
where  is  it  honored  as  it  is  in  the  great  and  free  North. 
Whereas,  in  the  richer  and  more  influential  portions  of  the 
South,  labor  is  so  degraded  that  men  are  ashamed  of  it.     It 
is  a  badge  of  dishonor.     The  poor  and  shiftless  whites, 
unable  to  own  slaves,  unwilling  to  work  therfiselves,  live  in 
a  precarious  and  wretched  manner,  but  a  little  removed 
from  barbarism,  relying  upon  the  chase  for  much  of  their 
subsistence,  and  affording  a  melancholy  spectacle  of  the 
condition  into  which  the  reflex  influence  of  slavery  throws 
the  neighboring  poor  whites.     Having  turned  their  own 
industry  over  to  slaves,  and  established  the  province  and 
duties  of  a  gentleman  to  consist  in  indolence  and  politics, 
it  is  not  strange  that  they  hold  the  people  of  the  North  in 
great  contempt.     The  North  is  a  vast  hive  of  universal 
industry.     Idleness  there  is  as  disreputable  as  is  labor  in 
the  South.     The  child's  earliest  lesson  is  faithful  industry. 
The  boy  works,  the  man  works.     Everywhere  through  all 
the  North  men  earn  their  own  living  by  their  own  industry 
and  ingenuity.     They  scorn   to  be  dependent.     They  re 
volt  at  the  dishonor  of  living  upon  the  unrequited  labor 
of  others.     Honest  labor  is  that  highway  along  which  the 
whole  body  of  the  Northern  people  travel  towards  wealth 
and   usefulness.     From    Northern    looms   the    South   is 
clothed.     From    their   anvils   come    all    Southern  imple 
ments   of   labor.     From    their   lathes   all   modern   ware. 
From  their  lasts  Southern  shoes.     The  North  is  growing 
rich  by  its  own  industry.     The  small  class  of  slave-holders 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  65 

in  the  South  have  precarious  wealth,  but  at  the  expense 
of  the  vast  body  of  poor  whites,  who  live  from  hand  to 
mouth  all  their  days.  No  wonder  then,  that  Southerners 
have  been  wont  to  deride  the  free  workmen  of  the  North. 
Governor  Hammond  only  gave  expression  to  the  universal 
contempt  of  Southern  slave-holders  for  work  and  work 
men,  when  he  called  the  Northern  laborer  the  "mudsill 
of  society"  and  stigmatized  the  artisan,  as  the  "  greasy 
mechanic."  The  North  and  the  South  alike  live  by 
work ;  the  North  by  their  own  work,  the  South  by  that  of 
their  slaves  !  Which  is  the  more  honorable  ?  I  have  a 
right  to  demand  of  the  workmen  of  Glasgow  that  they 
should  refuse  their  sympathy  to  the  South,  and  should 
give  their  hearty  sympathy  to  those  who  are,  like  them 
selves,  seeking  to  make  work  honorable,  and  to  give  to 
the  workman  his  true  place  in  society.  Disguise  it  as 
they  will,  distract  your  attention  from  it  as  they  may,  it 
cannot  be  concealed,  that  the  American  question  is  the 
working  man's  question,  all  over  the  world  !  the  slave  mas 
ter's  doctrine  is  that  capital  should  own  labor — that  the 
employers  should  own  the  employed.  This  is  Southern 
doctrine  and  Southern  practice.  Northern  doctrine  and 
Northern  practice  is  that  the  laborer  should  be  free,  in 
telligent,  clothed  with  full  citizen's  rights,  with  a  share  of 
the  political  duties  and  honors.  The  North  has  from  the 
beginning  crowned  labor  with  honor.  Nowhere  else  on 
earth  is  it  so  honorable.  The  free  States  of  the  North 
and  West,  in  America,  are  the  paradise  of  laborers.  One 
5 


66  HENRY  WAR])  HE  EC  HER  'S  SPEECHES 

ot  the  predisposing  causes  of  the  present  conflict  was  the 
extraordinary  contrast  of  the  riches  of  the  North  and  the 
unthriftiness  of  the  South,  resulting  from  their  respective 
doctrines  of  labor  and  the  laborer !  It  would  seem  as  if 
Providence  had  demonstrated  the  wastefulness  and  mis 
chiefs  of  every  kind  of  despotism  in  church  and  in  state, 
save  one — despotism  of  work.  For  a  grand  and  final 
contrast  between  the  sin  and  guilt  of  labor-oppression, 
and  the  peace  and  glory  of  free-labor,  he  set  apart  the 
Western  continent.  That  the  trial  might  be  above 
all  suspicion,  to  the  right  he  gave  the  meagre  soil,  the 
austere  climate,  short  summers,  long  and  rigorous  winters. 
To  the  wrong  he  gave  fair  skies,  abundant  soils,  valleys 
of  the  tropics  teeming  with  almost  spontaneous  abun 
dance.  The  Christian  doctrine  of  work  has  made  New 
England  a  garden,  while  Virginia  is  a  wilderness. 
The  free  North  is  abundantly  rich,  the  South  bank 
rupt !  Every  element  of  prosperous  society  abounds 
in  the  North,  and  is  lacking  in  the  South.  There 
is  more  real  wealth  in  the  simple  little  State  of  Mas 
sachusetts  than  in  any  ten  Southern  States.  In  the 
free  States  everything  flourishes,  in  the  slave  States 
everything  languishes.  I  point  to  the  North  and  say, 
Behold  the  testimony  of  Providence  for  free  labor !  I 
point  to  the  South,  and  say,  Behold  the  legitimate  results 
of  slave  labor  !  Oppression  is  as  accursed  in  the  field  as 
it  is  upon  the  throne.  It  is  as  odious  before  God,  under 
the  slave-driver's  hat,  as  under  the  prince's  crown,  or  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  67 

priest's  mitre.  All  the  world  over,  slavery  is  detestable, 
and  bears  the  curse  of  God  everywhere  !  The  South  has 
complained  bitterly  of  this  indisputable  superiority  of  the 
North  in  the  elements  of  national  wealth  and  general 
prosperity.  It  has  been  charged  to  class-legislation,  to 
Yankee  shrewdness  at  the  expense  of  honesty,  and  to 
downright  advantage  taken  by  Northern  commerce. 
The  facts  are,  however,  that  the  legislation  of  the  coun 
try  has  been  controlled  for  fifty  years  by  Southern  influ 
ence.  No  class-legislation  was  possible  except  in  her 
own  favor.  The  North,  so  far  from  cheating  the  South, 
has  itself  been  obliged  largely  to  make  up  the  wastes  and 
squanderings  of  the  improvident  slave  system.  Southern 
bankruptcies  have  every  ten  years  carried  home  to  North 
ern  creditors  the  penalty  of  complicity  with  slave  labor. 
Besides  this,  the  South  has  contributed  less,  and  received 
more  from  the  Federal  Government,  than  the  North. 
The  peculiar  nature  of  society  under  such  industry  and 
institutions  made  the  functions  of  Government  oppressive 
and  expensive.  Yet,  with  every  partiality  and  favor  of 
Government,  and  with  the  North  for  fifty  years  almost 
submissive  to  her  will  in  public  matters,  the  statesmen  of 
the  South  beheld  with  dismay  the  mighty  growth  of  the 
free  States  and  the  relative  weakness  of  the  slave  States. 
To  maintain  equipollence,  new  territory  must  be  acquired, 
and  new  States  brought  into  the  Union,  that  the  fatal 
weakness  resulting  from  slavery  in  the  older  States,  might 
be  compensated  by  the  extent  of  the  South,  and  by  the 


68  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

number  of  votes  in  the  Congress, — controlling  legislation 
in  their  interest.  Out  of  this  radical  conflict  of  free 
labor  and  slave  labor,  have  sprung  naturally  the  elements 
of  this  war.  In  the  race,  slavery  has  crippled  itself.  It 
therefore  seeks  to  escape  from  institutions  and  influences 
that  expose  its  folly,  that  reveal  its  degradation  and 
poverty,  and  would  inevitably,  in  due  time,  revolutionize 
and  destroy  it.  Not  only  is  it  true  that  the  working  men 
of  England  have  an  interest  in  this  conflict,  as  a  political 
struggle ;  but,  as  a  conflict  between  the  two  grand  sys 
tems — Slave  labor  and  Free  labor — it  addresses  itself  to 
every  laboring  man  on  the  globe.  If  the  North  succeed 
and  slavery  be  crushed,  laboring  men,  all  the  world  over, 
will  be  benefited.  The  American  conflict  is  but^one  form 
of  that  contest  which  is  going  on  in  all  nations.  Men 
that  live  by  the  sweat  of  their  brow  are  aspiring  to  more 
education,  to  a  larger  sphere  of  influence,  to  some  share 
of  political  power,  to  some  joint  fruition  of  that  wealth 
which  they  help  to  create.  They  ought  to  know  their 
fellows.  They  ought  to  recognize  in  every  land  who  are 
striving  for  them  and  who  against.  It  is  monstrous  that 
British  workmen  should  help  Southern  slave-holders  to 
degrade  labor.  Are  there  not  enough  already  to  crush 
the  poor  and  helpless  laborers  of  the  world,  without 
English  working  men,  too,  joining  the  rebel  gang  of 
oppressors  ?  Every  word  for  the  South  is  a  blow  against 
the  slave  !  Every  stroke  aimed  at  the  slave  rebounds  up 
on  the  European  laborer !  Join  the  slave-owner  in  mak 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  6g 

ing  labor  compulsory  and  dishonorable,  and  the  slave 
owner  will  unite  with  European  extortioners  in  grinding 
the  poor  operatives  here  !  The  North  is  truly  fighting 
the  battle  of  the  laborer  everywhere.  The  North  honors 
work.  When  the  laborer  is  educated,  all  doors  are  open 
to  him,  and  it  depends  on  his  own  powers  and  disposition 
whether  he  shall  be  a  drudge  or  an  honored  citizen.  It 
will  be  a  burning  shame  for  British  workmen  to  side 
against  their  own  friends  !  Consider  now,  for  a  moment, 
what  were  our  respective  divisions  when  this  war  broke 
out  which  has  fused  all  parties  into  one  in  the  North  and 
one  in  the  South.  We  are  not  to  expect  parties  formed 
methodically  to  suit  any  philosophical  or  ethical  theory. 
Such  arrangements  never  happen  in  a  land  so  large,  so 
diverse  in  population,  so  free  in  the  operation  of  opinions, 
and  swayed  by  so  many  motives.  Slavery  'had  long  ex 
erted  a  grave  influence  upon  the  condition  of  the  country 
before  it  was  recognized  in  politics.  Indeed,  the  first 
sign  of  the  entrance  of  this  vexed  question  into  active 
politics  was  seen  in  the  anxious  endeavors  of  all  parties 
to  exclude  it.  The  early  anti- slavery  men  found  them 
selves  shut  out  from  all  parties,  from  ecclesiastical  bod 
ies,  from  every  organization  of  society.  They  gathered 
adherents  outside  of  all  moral  and  civil  institutions.  But 
nothing  could  long  keep  out  a  topic  which  was  forced  up 
on  the  North  by  the  unwise  and  arrogant  legislation  of 
the  South.  At  length  the  subject  took  complete  possession 
of  politics,  and  divided  the  whole  public  into  parties. 


70  I1K\RY  ll'AA'D  BEECfrER*S  SPEECHES 

But  I  shall  consider  the  division  of  opinions,  rather  than 
of  parties,  which  are  seldom  homogeneous.  There  were 
three  degrees  of  opinion.  At  the  close  of  the  war  for  in 
dependence  the  term  abolitionist  was  applied  to  such  men  as 
Franklin,  John  Jay,  etc.,  who  united  in  societies  for  pro 
moting  the  abolition  of  slavery.  These  societies  died 
out,  and  the  name  was  almost  forgotten,  till  revived 
about  1830,  and  applied,  then  and  since,  exclusively  to 
Mr.  Garrison  and  his  school.  They  regarded  slavery  as 
so  established,  and  the  institutions  of  the  country  as  so 
controlled  by  its  advocates,  that  all  remedy  was  hopeless, 
and  they  urged  an  utter  separation  from  the  South,  as  the 
only  way  of  freeing  the  North  from  the  guilt  and  contam 
ination  of  slavery.  There  was  no  political  difference  be 
tween  Mr.  Garrison's  disunion  and  Mr.  Davis's  secession. 
But  the  moral  difference  was  world  wide.  The  disunion- 
ists  of  the  Garrison  and  Wendell  Phillips  school  were 
seeking  to  promote  liberty  and  to  weaken  slavery.  Mr. 
Davis  and  his  followers  are  seeking  to  strengthen 
slavery  and  to  restrict  liberty.  But  the  abolitionists 
though  a  heroic  band,  sought  a  right  thing  by  a  wrong 
method.  Their  party  was  never  large,  but  their  direct 
and  indirect  influence  was  great.  Another  section  was 
represented  by  the  great  body  of  moral  and  intelligent 
men  in  the  North  who  held  that  slavery  should  be  limited 
to  its  present  territory  :  that,  since  it  existed  by  State  laws 
and  not  by  national  laws,  it  should  be  restricted  to  those 
Stot.es  in  which  it  was  found  dc  facto  :  that  Congress  should 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  7  I 

leave  it  where  it  was,  but  defend  the  Territories  from  its 
incursions ;  that  the  government  should  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  men  who  loved  liberty  more  than  slavery  ;  that 
our  courts  should  be  purged  of  judges  appointed  to 
serve  Southern  interests.  It  was  believed,  and  I  was  of 
this  faith  myself,  that,  were  slavery  rigorously  confined 
to  existing  bounds,  and  the  institutions  of  the  nation 
arrayed  on  the  side  of  liberty,  gradually  natural  laws,  with 
commercial  changes,  and  the  exigencies  of  political  econ 
omy  would  work  out  a  system  of  emancipation.  These 
views  were  held  by  the  North  both  in  a  latent  and  an 
active  form,  by  men  who- were  widely  different  in  politics, 
and  who  sought  different  and  even  conflicting  methods  of 
enforcing  them.  The  third  section  was  represented  by 
that  class  of  men  which  exists  in  every  land  without  moral 
convictions  in  public  affairs,  who  regard  politics  as  a 
game,  and  who  look  only  at  interest  as  the  end  of  parties. 
To  such  were  added  vast  numbers  of  ignorant  emigrants. 
With  a  partial  and  honorable  exception  in  favor  of  the 
Germans,  it  must  be  said  that  the  great  body  of  emigrants 
flying  from  foreign  hardships  and  oppression  joined  the  pro- 
slavery  party  in  America,  and  arranged  themselves  against 
the  negro.  This  has  been  the  peculiar  and  chief  difficulty 
of  the  North  in  political  efforts.  We  owe  to  Europe,  but 
chiefly  to  Great  Britain,  those  hindrances  that  so  long 
paralyzed  political  effort,  and  divided  the  action  of  the 
North,  It  will  be  seen  by  this  brief  view,  that  the  North 
ern  movement  proposed  no  violence  nor  any  precipitate 


72  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

action.  We  relied  on  the  inherent  superiority  of  free- 
labor  to  develop  our  embryo  Territories,  and  hoped  that, 
with  time  and  patience,  moral  influences,  following  the 
operation  of  great  natural  laws,  would  waste  away  slavery, 
without  violence  or  revolution,  and  with  benefit  to  both 
the  bond  and  the  free.  The  key-note  of  Northern  policy 
was  No  MORE  SLAVE  STATES — No  MORE  LEGISLATION  IN 
FAVOR  OF  SLAVERY.  Let  it  die  by  its  own  inherent  dis 
eases !— (Cheers).  Now  let  me  speak  of  the  South. 
What  have  been  the  divisions  of  the  South  ?  There 
have  been  two  tendencies  there ;  a  more  moderate  and 
a  more  extreme  party.  The  former  attempted  to  main 
tain  the  South  on  the  basis  of  slavery ;  by  the  mul 
tiplication  of  new  States;  by  the  acquisition  of  Terri 
tories,  and  so  directing  the  Government  as  to  fortify 
slavery  till  it  should  stretch  across  the  continent  from 
ocean  to  ocean.  That  has  been  the  object  of  the  earlier 
and  main  party  of  the  South.  The  second  was  the  South 
Carolina  party,  who  date  from  Mr.  Calhoun's  time.  This 
party  meant  to  break  off  from  the  Union  as  soon  as  they 
were  strong  enough.  Just  as  long  as  anything  was  to  be 
gained  by  staying,  so  long  they  meant  to  stay ;  but  as 
soon  as  nothing  more  was  to  be  gained,  they  meant  to  go. 
They  included  the  former  plan,  but  more  also.  They 
designed,  first,  separate  national  existence  as  the  ultimate 
aim  of  the  Southern  States ;  and  secondly,  the  inclusion 
of  the  tropics  of  America  in  a  gigantic  cotton-growing 
slave  empire.  They  meant,  ere  long,  to  seize  Mexico  and 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  73 

Central  America ;  to  include  the  vast  central  American 
tropical  Oceanica,  and  spread  slavery  over  all.  They 
proudly  said — Cotton  is  king !  and  if  we  have  cotton  and 
the  means  of  raising  it,  we  can  control  the  destiny  of  the 
globe  !  They  meant  also  to  re-open  the  African  slave 
trade  for  the  purpose  of  cheapening  negroes,  who  are  the 
most  expensive  item  of  labor.  In  South  Carolina  this 
scheme  was  unblushingly  and  openly  advocated ;  and  if  I 
had  lived  in  the  South  and  been  a  slave-holder,  I  should 
have  been  of  that  party.  What !  an  advocate  of  the 
African  slave  trade  ?  Yes,  I  should  !  The  day  that  I 
make  up  my  mind  to  keep  slaves,  I  shall  have  to  keep 
them  ignorant ;  and  if  I  live  in  the  cotton  States,  I  am 
not  likely  to  pay  Virginia,  under  a  home-tariff,  a  thousand 
dollars  for  a  slave  that  I  can  import  from  Africa  for  three 
hundred  dollars.  The  fact  is,  the  law  that  makes  the 
foreign  slave  trade  piracy  is  nothing  but  a  high  tariff  in 
favor  of  the  slave-breeding  States  :  and  the  States  that  do 
not  breed  slaves  say, — That  tariff  must  be  taken  off;  if 
Africa  can  produce  the  material  cheaper  than  Virginia, 
we  must  have  the  advantage  of  it.  I  declare,  too,  that  the 
inter-State  slave  trade  of  America  is  in  many  most  impor 
tant  respects  more  cruel  than  the  roughest  part  of  the 
African  slave  trade.  To  bring  up  men  under  the  gospel  ; 
to  bring  up  women  with  some  of  the  tender  susceptibili 
ties  of  womanhood,  and  more  than  half  their  blood  white 
blood, — to  rear  them  in  your  household,  and  then, — if 
bankruptcy  threatens,  or  exigencies  press,  to  call  out 


74 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


your  valuable  slaves  from  a  Virginian  plantation  and  sell 
them  to  the  slave-master,  to  manacle  them, — to  drive  in 
gangs  men  reared  under  the  sound  of  the  bell  of  the 
Christian  Church, — who  have  acquired  something  of  re 
finement  in  their  masters'  families — to  carry  them  down 
South  in  droves  of  fifties  and  hundreds,  as  is  done  on 
every  great  street  and  road  of  the  Middle  States, — is  I 
say,  more  infernal,  more  wicked,  by  as  much  as  these 
Northern-bred  slaves  are  more  tender,  susceptible  and  in 
telligent  than  the  poor  half-imbruted  African.  If  God 
sends  one  bolt  at  the  ship  that  brings  slaves  from  Africa, 
double-shotted  thunders  are  aimed  at  every  gang-master 
that  drives  them  from  the  Northern  slave  States  to  the 
Southern.  (Applause.)  It  was  perfectly  natural  that 
South  Carolina  should  include  in  its  project  of  aggrandize 
ment  the  opening  of  the  African  slave  trade ;  and  every 
freeman  in  Great  Britain  that  goes  for  the  South,  really 
goes  for  the  opening  of  that  trade.  When  you  put  a 
drunken  engineer  to  drive  a  train,  you  may  not  mean  to 
come  to  any  harm,  but  when  you  are  in  that  train  you 
cannot  help  yourselves.  It  is  just  the  same  here.  You 
do  not  mean  the  slave  trade,  but  they  do ;  and  all  that 
they  ask  of  you  is— "  to  be  blind."  (Laughter  and 
applause.)  This  Southern  plan  thus  includes  the  open 
ing  of  the  slave  trade  for  the  sake  of  cheapening  negroes, 
and  the  secession  threw  the  control  of  the  whole  South 
into  the  hands  of  these  extremists.  You  may  not  be 
aware  that  when  secession  was  proposed,  after  the  election 


IN  ENGLAXD  /A'  1863.  75 

of  Lincoln,  every  State,  by  its  popular  vote,  went  against 
secession,  except  South  Carolina.  Well,  that  might  have 
seemed  a  fatal  obstacle.  Not  at  all.  The  leaders  of  this 
extreme  party  immediately  began  to  work  upon  the  legis 
latures  either  to  call  conventions,  or  to  act  as  conventions, 
and  pass  secession  acts.  The  States  were  carried  out  of 
the  Union  into  secession  notwithstanding  the  vote  of  the 
people  not  many  months  before.  How  was  it  that  Ten 
nessee  was  carried  out  ? — how  was  even  such  a  State  as 
Georgia  carried  out  ? — how  was  Alabama  carried  out 
against  such  a  man  as  Mr.  Stephens,  the  vice-president 
of  the  Confederacy — a  man  who,  though  on  the  wrong 
side,  is  the  best  man,  I  think,  in  the  whole  Southern 
States  of  America — (applause) — and — if  it  were  not 
for  the  accursed  surrounding  of  slavery — is  as  true 
and  far  sighted  a  statesman  as  we  have  ever  had  in 
America.  How  did  they  carry  out  these  States  by  their 
legislatures?  They  said  to  the  members  of  the  legisla 
tures  throughout  the  South,  "  the  North  never  stood  in  a 
fair  stand-up  fight.  It  was  always  anxious  about  its  mills 
and  stores  and  its  money.  They  will  rouse  up  at  first, 
but  whenever  it  comes  to  the  last,  and  we  threaten  fire 
and  bloodshed,  they  always  knuckle  under."  Well,  I  am 
ashamed  to  say  there  was  too  much  truth  in  this.  Com 
mercial  interest  on  one  side,  and  a  desire  for  peace  and 
love  of  the  Union  on  the  other,  had  always  led  the  North 
to  yield  to  Southern  threats.  But  that  was  ended.  A 
new  spirit  had  arisen.  The  North  now  for  the  first  time 


j(,  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

thoroughly  believed  that  the  South  aimed  to  nationalize 
slavery.  The  North  never  had  believed  that  it  was  worth 
while  to  agitate  the  controversy,  until  the  outrageous  con 
duct  of  the  South  in  Kansas  brought  the  North  to  its  con 
sciousness.  Since  then  it  has  been  true  as  steel.  Well, 
the  South  said,  "  the  North  will  not  willingly  see  us  go 
out  of  the  Union — that  is  a  mere  ruse  on  our  part :  we 
will  go  out  by  '  secession,'  and  say,  we  will  come  back  if 
you  give  us  new  guarantees.  Even  if  they  will  not  do 
that,  there  will  be  no  war ;  for  the  North  will  not  fight 
us."  With  these  arguments  the  legislatures  were  won, 
and  the  secession  was  accomplished  in  the  greater  num 
ber  of  the  slave  States.  The  upper  classes  thought,  that 
secession  was  only  a  political  trick,  through  which  they 
were  to  go  back  into  a  reconstructed  Union,  with  guaran 
tees  inserted  for  the  nationalization  of  slavery  and  for  its 
extension  all  over  the  continent.  But  at  this  time  there 
happened  to  be  more  or  less  of  conference  between  friends 
in  the  North  and  friends  in  the  South,  and  it  seemed  as 
if  the  consummation  would  be  prevented.  Virginia  had 
refused  persistently  to  pass  the  secession  ordinance.  The 
convention  that  was  by  the  popular  vote  elected  in  Vir 
ginia  was  known  to  be  immensely  in  favor  of  remaining 
in  the  Union.  It  was  necessary  that  something  should  be 
done  to  prevent  Virginia  standing  out  with  the  North, 
and  it  was  done.  The  gang  of  slave  drivers  in  Richmond 
intimidated  the  members  of  the  convention.  When  the 
history  shall  be  written,  the  fact  will  appear,  that  numbers 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  >jj 

of  convention-men  were  made  afraid  for  their  lives.  They 
were  told  almost  in  so  many  words,  "  You  shall  never 
leave  Richmond  alive,  if  you  fail  to  vote  secession."  It 
was  voted,  but  secretly,  and  it  was  not  known  in  Virginia 
for  weeks.  I  was  myself  a  fellow  passenger  with  one 
man,  who  was  making  a  circuitous  journey  throughout 
the  North  to  get  home  alive  to  his  farm  in  the  western 
part  of  Virginia,  because  he  had  been  true,  and  refused 
to  vote  for  secession,  even  secretly.  It  was  to  commit 
the  South,  to  fire  the  wavering,  and  arouse  the  sectional 
blood,  that  orders  were  sent  by  telegraph  from  Washing 
ton  by  the  Southern  conspirators  who  were  lurking  there 
— "Open  your  batteries  on  Fort  Sumter."  And  they 
fired  at  that  glorious  old  flag,  which  had  carried  the  honor 
of  the  American  name  round  the  globe,  in  order  that  they 
might  take  Virginia  out  of  the  Union,  and  compel  the 
North  to  submit  either  to  a  degrading  compromise,  or  to 
the  independence  of  the  South.  That  is  the  history  of 
the  matter.  Now  let  me  speak  of  the  North.  Oh  how  I 
wish  you  could  have  seen  the  North  !  I  have  stood  on 
the  summit  of  the  noblest  mountains  in  Switzerland :  I 
have  seen  whatever  that  country  had  to  show  me  of  moun 
tain  peak,  of  more  than  royal  mountains  of  clouds  of  gla 
ciers  :  I  have  seen  the  beauties  of  Northern  Italy  :  I  have 
seen  the  glories  of  the  ocean  :  I  have  seen  whatever 
Nature  has  to  show  of  her  sublimity  on  land  and  on  sea  : 
but  the  grandeur  of  the  uprising  of  the  Northern  people, 
when  the  thunder  of  the  first  cannon  rolled  through  their 


7<S  HENRY  WARD  HEECJIER'S  SPEECHES 

valleys  and  'over  their  hills,  was  something  beyond  all 
these  ;  nor  do  I  expect,  till  the  judgment  day  fills  me 
with  wondering  awe,  to  see  such  a  sight  again.  There 
had  been  a  secret  agreement  with  a  portion  of  the  Dem 
ocratic  leaders  in  the  North,  that  they  were  to  side  with 
the  South,  and  paralyze  Northern  resistance.  But  with 
stern  unanimity  the  public  mutterings  denounced  complic 
ity  with  the  South  as  a  treason  worthy  of  death.  The 
astounding  outburst  of  patriotic  feeling  terrified  even  such 
men  as  the  two  Woods,  and  they  made  haste  to  join  the 
rolling  tide.  No  rainbow  was  ever  so  decked  with  color 
as  was  Broadway  with  flags.  Bunting  went  up  in  the 
market.  High  and  low,  rich  and  poor,  Democratic  and 
Republican,  men  that  had  been  for  the  South,  and  men 
that  had  been  for  the  North,  found  themselves  in  com 
pany.  It  is  said  that  misery  makes  one  acquainted  with 
strange  bedfellows,  but  patriotism  makes  even  stranger 
transformations.  I  found  men  that  were  ready  to  mob 
me  yesterday  for  my  anti-slavery  agitations,  were  ready 
to  denounce  me  to-day  because  I  was  not  anti-slavery 
enough.  Propelled  by  this  universal  feeling,  the  Govern 
ment  of  the  United  States  began— to  do  what  ?  To  de 
fend  the  laws  and  the  constitution.  If  they  had  failed  to 
do  this,  if  when  the  Government  and  the  country  was 
threatened  by  this  rebellion,  they  had  faltered,  not  Judas, 
not  the  meanest  traitor  that  has  ever  been  execrated 
through  all  time,  would  have  surpassed  them  in  ignominy. 
I  have  been  asked,  would  it  not  have  been  better  to  nego- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^ 

tiate  ?  What !  with  cannon  balls  firing  right  into  your 
midst !  The  other  side  was  using  powder  and  balls,  and 
you  propose  to  us  wad  and  paper !  The  day  for  talking 
was  gone  by  forever.  They  had  talked  too  much  already. 
It  was  then  the  day  for  action.  Men  in  England,  Scot 
land,  or  Ireland,  ask  me,  why  did  you  not  consent  to  let 
them  go,  since  the  whole  Southern  economy  is  so  opposed 
to  Northern  ?  Only  on  the  single  matter  of  slavery  is 
there  any  antagonism.  If  that  were  to  be  an  increasing 
and  perpetual  evil,  many  men  would  assent  to  separation 
who  now  do  not.  But  we  believe  it  to  be  a  removable 
evil.  The  nature  of  our  institutions  is  against  it.  The 
laws  of  nature  are  against  it.  The  conscience  of  the  na 
tion,  the  public  sentiment  of  Christendom,  are  against  it. 
The  real  and  general  interest  of  the  South  itself  is  op 
posed  to  it.  Free  labor  in  place  of  slave  labor  would  be 
the  greatest  boon  that  could  be  conferred  upon  the  South 
ern  States.  Men  that  profit  by  slavery  are  but  a  handful ; 
all  the  rest  suffer  from  its  deadly,  wasting  nature. 
If  then  a  limit  can  be  placed  to  its  growth,  and 
it  can  be  subjected  to  the  unobstructed  influences  of 
natural,  moral,  and  civil  laws,  it  will  quickly  begin  to 
decay  and  give  place  to  a  healthier  system.  Already  the 
tendency  had  in  many  sections  been  established  ;  and  as 
it  was  this  fervent  hope  of  a  peaceful  ending  of  slavery 
that  disinclined  thousands  of  conscientious  men  in  the 
North  to  meddle  with  it,  so  now  it  is  the  same  wish  to  see 
slavery  ended  that  leads  them  to  refuse  their  consent  to  a 


So  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

separation,  which  not  only  dismembers  the  nation,  but 
gives  a  new  lease  of  life  to  slavery,  and  opens  for  it  a 
dark  empire  full  of  sorrow  and  tears  and  blood  within,  of 
quarrels  and  wars  without,  an  empire  of  belligerent  mis 
chiefs  to  all.  When  I  am  asked,  Why  not  let  the  South 
go  ?  I  return  for  an  answer  a  question.  Be  pleased  to 
tell  me  what  part  of  the  British  Islands  you  are  willing  to 
let  go  from  under  the  crown  when  its  inhabitants  secede 
and  set  up  for  independence  ?  If  you  say  ten  or  fifteen 
States,  with  twelve  millions  of  inhabitants,  are  not  to  be 
compared  to  the  county  of  Kent,  I  say,  they  are  to  be 
compared  to  Kent.  For  that  county  bears  a  greater 
proportion  to  the  square  miles  of  the  British  Islands  than 
the  rebellious  States  do  to  the  whole  territory  of  the 
Union.  But  the  right  or  wrong  of  such  rebellions  are 
not  questions  in  arithmetic.  Numbers  do  not  change 
civil  obligations.  Secession  was  an  appeal  from  the 
ballot  to  the  bullet.  It  was  not  a  noble  minority  de 
fying  usurpation  or  despotism  in  the  assertion  of  funda 
mental  rights.  It  was  a  despotism,  which,  when  put  to 
shame  by  the  will  of  a  free  people,  expressed  through  the 
ballot-box,  rushed  into  rebellion  as  the  means  of  perpetu 
ating  slavery.  Northern  sentiment,  and  great  natural 
laws,  were  preparing  the  way  for  the  emancipation  of  four 
million  of  slaves :  thereupon  eight  million  whites  broke 
allegiance  and  withdrew  from  a  free  government  in  order 
to  maintain  this  slave  system  ;  and  that  is  praised,  in 
Great  Britain,  as  a  heroic  struggle  for  independence  ! 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  8 1 

]]'hose  independence,  the  white  man's  or  the  black 
man's  ?  Unreflecting  men  are  deceived  by  the  instances 
of  colonies  in  the  past,  such  as  the  American  colonies, 
breaking  off  from  the  parent  Government,  and  asserting 
their  independence.  A  remote  colony,  an  outlying  and 
separate  territory,  whose  autonomy  is  already  practically 
established,  and  whose  connection  with  the  home  govern 
ment  is  not  intimate,  territorial,  adjacent,  but  only  polit- 
i.cal, — is  not  to  be  compared  with  home  territory,  geo 
graphically  touching  the  country  along  its  whole  line. 
This  is  not  cutting  off  a  foot,  or  a  hand.  It  is  cutting 
across  the  body  right  under  the  heart.  The  line  of  frac 
ture  proposed  by  the  South,  is  not  a  stone's  throw  from 
the  national  capital.  France  might  consent  to  let  Algiers 
go,  but  would  she  let  a  north  and  south  line  be  run  touch 
ing  the  city  of  Paris,  on  the  east,  and  separating  all  the 
territory  east  from  her  dominions  ?  Great  Britain  might 
suffer  the  Canadas  to  secede  from  the  crown  ;  but  would 
she  suffer  an  east  and  west  line  to  be  run  along  the  edge 
of  London,  and  all  the  territory  south  of  it,  to  pass  into 
hostile  hands?  Yet  this  is  the  very  case  of  America. 
Secession  accomplished  will  leave  Washington  toppling  on 
the  edge  of  the  Southern  abyss,  in  whose  lurid  future 
loom  the  elements  of  quarrel,  collision,  and  terrific  war. 
In  asserting  the  integrity  of  our  territory  under  the  na 
tional  Government,  we  shut  that  door,  through  which 
threaten  to  come  just  such  storms  as  have  for  hundreds 
of  years  past  deluged  Europe  with  blood.  Better  a  single 


82  HKNKY  WARD  B&ECHE&S  SPEECHES 

gigantic  struggle  now  than  a  hundred  years  of  intermit 
tent  wars,  ending  in  treacherous  truces,  and  breaking  out 
again  at  every  decade  in  fierce  conflict.  I  shall  now 
refer  to  the  astonishing  pretence  that  this  war  has  noth 
ing  to  do  with  slavery !  Never  has  the  South  asserted 
this.  The  interest  of  slavery  was  the  very  ground  alleged 
for  rebellion,  and  the  justification  put  in  for  it.  Slavery 
having  been  adopted  as  the  central  principle  of  Southern 
political  economy, — her  politics  having  for  thirty  years 
avowedly  and  indisputably  moved  around  that  centre, — 
all  her  quarrels  with  the  North  having  been  about  slavery, 
directly  or  indirectly, — the  issues  of  the  last  Presidential 
election  having  been  issues  made  upon  this  very  question 
of  slavery, — all  her  principal  statesmen  having  made 
interferences  with  slavery  wrongs  at  the  hands  of  the 
North — wrongs  in  the  past  or  feared  in  the  future — the 
very  reason  of  rebellion, — the  whole  interior  history  of 
America  for  seventy  years  having  been  wound  up  on  this 
spool, — what  amazing  impudence  do  they  manifest,  who, 
calculating  on  the  ignorance  of  the  British  public,  dare  to 
affirm  that  slavery  has  nothing  to  do  with  this  war! 
Slavery  has  been  the  very  alphabet  of  the  war.  Every 
letter  of  its  history  has  been  taken  from  the  fount  of 
slavery.  The  whole  black  literature  of  the  war  has  been 
drawn  from  slavery !  To  be  sure  there  is  a  division  of 
opinion  in  America,  whether  the  five  States  of  the  South, 
or  the  Abolitionists  of  the  North,  are  most  to  blame  for 
making  slavery  the  occasion  of  the  war ;  but  not  a  sane 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  83 

man  on  our  whole  continent  can  be  found  denying  that 
slavery  is  the  root  of  it !  You  cannot  point  to  a  war 
either  in  ancient  or  modern  times,  that  has  turned  so 
much  upon  fundamental  principles  as  this  one  between 
the  North  and  the  South.  There  is  the  South  with  her 
gigantic  system  of  slavery,  and  there  is  the  North  with 
her  freedom,  her  free  soil,  free  labor,  free  speech,  and  her 
free  press  ;  and  the  question  is,  which  of  these  two  shall 
govern  the  American  continent  ?  (Applause.)  The  North 
preferred  to  settle  this  question  by  discussion,  by  moral 
influence,  by  legal  and  constitutional  means ;  but  the 
South  threw  down  the  gauntlet,  refused  a  convention,  and 
fired  on  the  old  flag ;  and  now  her  minions  are  whining 
and  crying  in  England  because  the  North  will  make  war  ! 
If  they  did  not  like  blows,  why  did  they  strike  them  ?  I 
will  admit  that  the  South  is  as  gallant  a  people  as  ever 
lived  ;  I  will  admit  that  when  they  shall  come  back  to  the 
Union,  as  they  will — (applause,  and  cries  of  "  never,"  and 
waving  of  handkerchiefs) — they  will  come  back — (a  voice, 
"  never.") — Perhaps  you  will  not,  but — (laughter) — they 
will.  ("  Never  !  "  a  voice,  "  they  are  Anglo-Saxon  and  will 
never  come  back.")  Why,  if  I  thought  that  this  thing  was 
to  be  fought  out  here,  I  would  say  it  over  and  over  again 
till  daylight  broke ;  but  not  your  breath  denying  or  mine 
affirming  will  alter  the  issue.  The  Grants,  the  Rose- 
cranzqs,  the  Bankses  must  do  that.  (Hisses.)  But 
when  the  South  shall  come  back  into  the  Union — 
("  never ") — we  shall  honor  them  more  than  ever 


34  HENRY  WARD  BE  EC  HER >S  SPEECHES 

we  did  for  their  good  management  and  courage. 
(Applause.)  There  are  some  things  that  men  may  pay  too 
much  to  find  out ;  but  if  the  South,  by  paying  the  blood  of 
thrice  ten  thousand  of  her  sons,  finds  out  that  liberty  is 
better  than  slavery,  she  will  not  have  paid  a  drop  too 
much.  (Applause.)  The  triumph  of  the  North  in  this 
conflict  will  be  the  triumph  of  free  institutions,  even  if 
the  Northern  people  and  Government  could  be  proved 
to  have  been  delinquent,  in  every  individual  and  in  every 
public  officer.  Large  as  is  our  country,  independent  in 
opinions,  and  hitherto  divided  in  sentiment  about  slavery, 
never  was  any  people  so  sincere,  so  religiously  earnest, 
as  is  now  the  North.  But,  what  if  its  people  were  insin 
cere,  its  president  a  trickster,  his  emancipation  proclama 
tion  a  hollow  pretence  ?  What  if  the  North  were  as  cruel 
to  colored  people  as  slavery  is  ?  All  that  would  not 
change  the  inevitable  fact,  that  the  triumph  of  the  North 
carries  with  it  her  free  institutions  all  over  the  continent ! 
//  is  a  iv ar  of  Principles  and  of  Institutions.  The  victory 
will  be  a  victory  of  Principles  and  of  Institutions.  This 
is  avowed  by  the  South  as  well  as  by  us.  If  the  North 
prevails,  she  carries  over  the  continent  her  pride  of  hon 
est  work,  her  free  public  schools,  her  homestead  law, 
which  gives  to  every  man  who  will  occupy  it  a  hundred 
and  sixty  acres  of  land  ;  her  free  press,  her  love  and 
habit  of  free  speech,  her  untiring  industry,  her  thrift, 
frugality,  and  morality,  and  above  all  her  democratic 
ideas  of  human  rights,  and  her  Old  English  notions  of  a 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  35 

commonwealth,  transmitted  to  her  from  Sydney,  Hamp- 
den,  Vane,  Milton ;  and  not  least,  her  free  churches  with 
their  vast  train  of  charities  and  beneficences !  These 
results  do  not  depend  upon  the  will  of  individuals.  They 
go  with  the  society,  the  civilization,  the  ineradicable 
nature  of  those  Northern  democratic  institutions  which 
are  in  conflict  with  Southern  despotic  institutions.  If 
then  any  one  says,  I  cannot  give  my  sympathy  to  the 
Northern  cause,  because  the  people  of  the  North  are  just 
as  bad  as  the  people  of  the  South,  I  first  utterly  deny  the 
fact,  but  next,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  I  for  a  moment 
yield  it,  and  reply  that  the  institutions  of  the  North  are 
not  so  bad  as  the  institutions  of  the  South,  even  if  the 
people  are.  This  is  a  war  of  institutions,  not  simply  of 
races.  It  is  not  necessary  to  look  into  the  motives  of 
her  individual  citizens.  Look  into  the  spirit  and  struct 
ure  of  Northern  society.  Look  at  her  history  and  see 
in  the  vast  Western  States  what  is  the  result  of  the  as 
cendency  of  her  ideas.  Look  into  those  great  natural 
laws  which  have  generated  and  controlled  her  civiliza 
tion!  But  I  return  to  the  shameless  and  impudent 
assertion  that  the  North  is  not  sincere  in  this  conflict. 
True,  the  North  has  her  own  ways  of  managing  her  own 
affairs.  She  is  guided  by  the  genius  of  her  own  institu 
tions,  and  not  by  the  whims  of  unsympathizing  critics 
three  thousand  miles  off,  ignorant  of  her  ideas,  history, 
institutions,  emergencies,  and  difficulties.  But  there  has 
never  before,  since  time  began,  been  a  spectacle  like 


86  HENRY  WARD  BEE  CHER'S  SPEECHES 

that  in  America.  A  million  men  have  been  on  foot  in 
the  army  and  navy,  every  man  a  volunteer,  the  best  blood 
of  the  North,  her  workmen,  her  farmers  and  artisans, 
her  educated  sons,  lawyers,  doctors,  ministers  of  the 
gospel,  young  men  of  wealth  and  refinement,  side  by 
side  with  the  modest  sons  of  toil,  and  every  man  a  volun 
teer  !  They  have  come,  not  like  the  Goths  and  Huns 
from  a  wandering  life  or  inclement  skies,  to  seek  fairer 
skies  and  richer  soil ;  but  from  homes  of  luxury,  from 
cultivated  farms,  from  busy  workshops,  from  literary 
labors,  from  the  bar,  the  pulpit,  and  the  exchange, 
thronging  around  the  old  national  flag  that  had  symbol 
ized  liberty  to  mankind,  all  moved  by  a  profound  love  of 
country,  and  firmly,  fiercely  determined  that  the  mother 
land  shall  not  be  divided,  especially  not  in  order  that 
slavery  may  scoop  out  for  itself  a  den  of  refuge  from 
Northern  civilization,  and  an  empire  to  domineer  over 
all  the  American  tropics  !  It  is  this  sublime  patriotism 
which,  on  every  side,  I  hear  stigmatized  as  the  mad  rush 
of  national  ambition  !  Has  then  the  love  of  country  run 
so  low  in  Great  Britain,  that  the  rising  of  a  nation  to 
defend  its  territory,  its  government,  its  flag,  and  all  the 
institutions  over  which  it  has  waved,  is  a. theme  for  cold 
aversion  in  the  pulpit,  and  sneers  in  the  pew  ?  Is  gener 
osity  dead  in  England,  that  she  will  not  admire  in  her 
children  those  very  qualities  which  have  made  the  chil 
dren  proud  of  the  memories  of  their  common  English 
ancestors  ?  But,  it  is  asked,  since  the  South  is  so  utterly 


IN  ENGLAXn  /.V  1863.  87 

discordant  with  the  North,  Why  not  let  them  go,  and  have 
peace  ?  Go  ?  It  is  to  STAY  that  they  are  fighting.  If 
the  white  population  would  but  go  and  leave  to  us  and 
to  the  negroes  a  peaceful  territory,  we  might  be  willing. 
But  it  is  a  rebellious  population  asking  leave  to  organize 
political  independence  on  United  States  territory,  for  the 
sake  of  threatening  the  peace  of  the  whole  future  !  Our 
trouble  is,  that  they  will  stay  if  we  give  them  leave  to  go. 
(Laughter.)  No  mountains  divide  the  North  from  the 
South — they  run  the  other  way.  No  cross  rivers  divide 
them — they  run  the  other  way.  No  latitudes  or  climates 
divide  the  one  from  the  other.  Don't  you  know  that  God 
has  affianced  the  torrid  and  the  temperate  zones  in 
America  one  to  the  other,  and  that  they  are  always  run 
ning  into  each  other's  arms  ?  The  Gulf-streams  of  popu 
lation  are  constantly  interchanging  in  such  a  continent  as 
ours.  There  is  no  division-line  that  you  can  make, 
except  a  merely  arbitrary  one.  There  is  a  line  of  1200 
miles,  east  and  west,  which  you  propose  in  your  division 
to  make  the  fiery  line  of  a  slave  empire.  Do  you  ask  us 
to  such  a  bequest  of  peace  as  that  ?  A  Southern  boun 
dary  of  1200  miles  long,  charged  with  the  flames  and 
thunder  of  war,  ready  to  explode  on  any  occasion  ?  Well, 
may  be — may  be — you  could  lie  down  on  a  powder  mag 
azine,  with  a  thousand  tons  of  powder  in  it,  and  a  fire 
raging  within  an  inch  of  it,  but  I  could  not !  Will  so 
much  as  one  cause  of  quarrel  be  taken  out  of  the  way  ? 
Will  there  be  anything  that  will  stop  slaves  running 


88  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

across,  and  the  South  being  irritated  because  we  harbor 
them  ?     Of  course  we  should  harbor  them,  as  you  do  in 
Canada.     No  law   could  stop  it  then.     The  only  thing 
that  ever  gave  to  the  fugitive-slave  law  a  shadow,  a  ves 
tige,  of  power,  was  that  for  the  sake  of  peace  many  in  the 
North  consented,  somehow  or  other,  to  get  rid  of  their 
consciences.      I  never  did.     (Applause.)      I  hated   the 
law.     I  trod  it  under  foot ;  and  I   declared,  to  the  face 
of  the  magistrates  and   the   government,  that   I   would 
break  it  in  every  way  I   could.     And  I  did.     (Cheers.) 
Now  say,  if  it  were  so,  when  there  were  motives  of  patriot 
ism  to  maintain  such  an  obnoxious  law,  what  would  it  be 
when  the  sections  were  rent  asunder  ?     If  separated,  would 
the  contrast  of  free  labor  and  slave  labor  be  less  exciting  ? 
Would  our  press  be  less  bold  in  its  proclamation  of  doc 
trines  of  liberty  ?     Would  not  parties  in  secret  league  with 
Southern   parties   torment   the   border   States  with   new 
divisions,  and  make  that  peace  impossible  by  which  we 
are  to  be  bribed  to  cease  this  war  ?     Cruel  as  the  war  is, 
yet  to  stop  it  until  slavery  has  its  death-wound,  would  be 
even  more  cruel  !     When   the  surgeon  has  cut  half   the 
cancer  out,  is  that  man    the   friend   of  the  patient,   who, 
seeing  the  blood  and  hearing  the  groans,  should  persuade 
him  to  leave   the  operation   half  performed,  and  bind  up 
the   cancered   limb  ?      But,  you  ask,  How  long  shall  we 
carry  violence  into  the  South  ?     I  will  ask  you  a  question 
in  reply.     If   in   the   purlieus   of   vice    in   old  Glasgow, 
there  should  be  a  ward  of  which  a  confederation  of  burg- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  89 

lars  and  thieves  had  taken  possession,  how  long  would  you 
invade  it  with  your  police  ?  (Laughter.)  Would  Glasgow 
give  up  to  them  or  would  they  have  to  give  up  to  Glas 
gow  ?  We  may  now  understand  what  Southern  rebellion 
means.  There  seems  a  need  of  information  on  this  point 
in  high  places.  Earl  Russell,  in  replying  to  Mr.  Sum- 
ner's  arguments  upon  rebellion,  reproached  him  with 
inconsistency  in  such  a  horror  of  rebellion,  America 
being  the  child  of  two  rebellions !  Were  they  re 
bellious  against  liberty  to  more  despotism  ?  or 
against  oppression  to  more  freedom?  The  English 
rebellion  and  the  American  rebellion  were  both  toward 
greater  freedom  of  all  classes  of  men.  This  rebellion  is 
for  the  sake  of  holding  four  million  slaves  with  greater 
security,  and  less  annoyance  from  free  institutions ! 
And  now  observe  :  The  South,  expressly  in  order  to  hold 
fast  her  four  million  slaves,  makes  war  against  what  the 
Confederate  vice-president,  Mr.  Stephens,  in  dissuading 
secession,  pronounced  to  be  "  the  best,  freest,  justest, 
most  lenient  Government  that  the  sun  ever  shone  upon." 
He  declared  that  the  South  had  no  grievances;  and 
since  secession,  he  has  glorified  the  new  Confederation, 
as  established  with  "  slavery  as  its  corner-stone."  On 
this  is  written  in  lurid  letters  of  infernal  light :  "  The 
only  foundation  of  our  liberty  is  to  own  the  laborer  and 
to  oppress  the  slave."  When  such  a  body  of  insurgents 
comes  to  ask  you  to  recognize  its  independence,  do 
you  think  it  just  and  humane — is  it  according  to  the 


00  HENRY  WARD  BE  EC  HER 'S  SPEECHES 

instinct — is  it  according  to  the  conscience  of  Great 
Britain  to  say  :  "  That  nation  ought  to  have  an  inde 
pendence  ? "  And  now  let  me  say  one  word  more ; 
for  I  am  emboldened  by  your  courtesy.  You  now 
see  what  it  means  to  give  your  aid  and  succor  to  the 
South.  Why  were  you  in  favor  of  giving  the  Hungarians 
their  liberty  ?  Because  they  said  the  yoke  of  Austria 
is  heavier  than  we  can  bear,  and  you  sympathized  with 
them  because  it  was  a  step  towards  larger  liberty.  When 
Greece  complained,  why  did  the  nations  interfere?  It 
was  to  give  her  more  liberty,  not  less.  When  Italy  asked 
help,  why  did  France — then  guided  by  her  better  genius 
— give  her  armies  to  beat  back  the  Austrian s  and  give 
Italy  her  sway  in  the  northern  part  of  that  beautiful 
peninsula  ?  It  was  because  Italy  sighed  for  the  sweets 
of  liberty — that  which  is  the  right  of  every  people  on  the 
globe.  Why  to-day  does  every  man  wish  that  the  Czar 
may  be  baffled,  that  he  may  be  sent  back  to  the  frozen 
fastnesses  of  the  North,  and  that  Poland  may  stand  erect 
in  her  nationality  ?  Why  ?  It  is  because  Poland  is 
under  a  despotism  and  is  struggling  for  independence 
and  liberty.  (Applause.)  You  know  now  what  I  think 
about  sending  clothes,  arms,  powder,  ships,  and  all  the 
muniments  of  war,  or  supplies  of  any  kind,  to  the  South. 

1  do  not  stop  to  discuss  whether  it  is  legal  or  illegal.  I  do 
not  discuss  this  as  a  question  of  technical   law   at  all.     I 
lift  it  up  and  put  it  on  the  ground  of  moral  law.     Be 
tween  two  parties,  one  of  whom  is  laboring  for  the  integ- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  gi 

rity  and  sanctity  of  labor,  and  the  other  is  for  robbery, 
the  degradation  of  labor,  and  the  integrity  of  slavery, — I 
say  that  the  man  that  gives  his  aid  to  the  Slave  Power 
is  allied  to  it,  and  is  making  his  money  by  building  up 
tyranny.  Every  man  that  strikes  a  blow  on  the  iron  that 
is  put  into  those  ships  for  the  South,  is  striking  a  blow 
and  forging  a  manacle  for  the  hand  of  the  slave.  (Ap 
plause  and  hisses.)  Every  free  laborer  in  old  Glasgow 
that  is  laboring  to  rear  up  iron  ships  for  the  South,  is 
'  laboring  to  establish  on  sea  and  on  land  the  doctrine  that 
capital  has  a  right  to  own  "  labor."  You  are  false  to 
your  own  principles,  to  your  own  interests,  to  mankind, 
and  to  the  great  working  classes.  You  have  no  right, 
for  the  sake  of  poor  pitiful  pelf,  to  go  against  the  great 
toiling  multitudes  of  Europe  that  are  lifting  up  their 
hands  for  more  education  and  more  liberty.  You  have 
no  right  to  betray  that  cause  by  allying  yourselves  with 
despots  who,  in  holding  slaves,  establish  the  doctrine 
that  might  makes  right.  It  is  not  in  anger  that  I  speak, 
it  is  not  in  pettishness  or  in  vehemence.  It  is  the  day-of- 
judgment  view  of  the  matter.  O  !  I  would  rather  than 
all  the  crowns  and  thrones  of  earth  to  have  the  sweet, 
assuring  smile  of  Jesus  when  he  says,  "  Come,  welcome, 
inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  the  least  of  these  ye  did  unto 
me."  And  I  would  rather  face  the  thunderbolt  than 
stand  before  Him  when  he  says  on  that  terrible  day, 
"  inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  the  least  of  these,  my 
little  ones,  ye  did  it  not  unto  me."  Ye  strike  God  in  the 


(j2  HENRY  WARD  BEFXIIER'S  SPEECHES 

face  when  you  work  for  slave-holders.  Your  money  so 
got  and  quickly  earned  will  be  badly  kept,  and  you  will 
be  poor  before  you  can  raise  your  children,  and  dying 
you  will  leave  a  memory  that  will  rise  against  you  at  the 
clay  of  judgment.  By  the  solemnity  of  that  judgment 
— by  the  sanctity  of  conscience — by  the  love  you  bear 
to  humanity — by  your  old  hereditary  love  of  liberty  ; — in 
the  name  of  God  and  of  mankind,  I  charge  you  to  come 
out  from  among  them,  to  have  nothing  to  do  with  the 
unclean  and  filthy  lucre  made  by  pandering  to  slavery. 
One  word  more.  I  protest,  in  the  name  of  all  that  there 
is  in  kindred  blood,  against  Great  Britain  putting  herself 
in  such  a  position  that  she  cannot  be  in  cordial  and  ever- 
during  alliance  with  the  free  republic  in  America.  I  de 
clare  to  you  that  it  is  a  monstrous  severance  of  your  only 
natural  alliance,  for  Great  Britain  to  turn  aside  from 
free  America  and  seek  close  relations  with  despotism ! 
You  owe  yourselves  to  us,  and  we  owe  ourselves  to  you. 
You  ought  to  live  at  peace  with  France — you  ought  to 
study  their  reciprocal  interest  and  they  yours.  But  after 
all,  while  you  should  be  in  Christian  peace  with  France, 
I  tell  you  it  is  unnatural  for  England  to  be  in  closer 
alliance  with  France  than  America.  (Hear  and  disappro 
bation.)  Nevertheless,  like  it  or  dislike  it,  so  it  is  !  On 
the  other  hand,  it  is  truly  unnatural  for  America,  when  she 
would  go  into  a  foreign  alliance  to  seek  her  alliance  with 
Russia.  (Hear  and  applause.)  Oh,  why  don't  you  hiss 
now  ?  (Laughter.)  I  declare  that  America  should  study 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  93 

the  prosperity  of  Russia,  as  of  every  nation  of  the  globe  ; 
but  when  she  gives  her  heart  and  hand  in  alliance,  she 
owes  it  to  Great  Britain.     (Applause.)     So  !  you  want  to 
hear  that.     And  when  Great  Britain  turns  to  find  one  that 
she  can  lean  on — can  go  to  with  all  her  heart — one  of  her 
own — we  are  her  eldest-born,  strongest — to  us  she  must 
come.    (Applause.)   A  war  between  England  and  America 
would   be   like  murder  in   the  family — unnatural — mon 
strous  beyond  words  to  depict.     Now,  then,  if  that  be  so, 
it  is  our  duty  to  avoid  all  cause  and  occasion  of  offence.. 
But  remember — remember — remember — we  are  carrying 
out  our  dead.     Our  sons,  brothers'  sons,  our  sisters'  chil 
dren — they  are  in  this  great  war  of  liberty  and  of  princi 
ple.     We  are  taxing  all  our  energies  :  you  are  at  peace, 
and  if  in  the  flounderings  of  this  gigantic  conflict  we  ac 
cidentally  tread  on  your  feet,  are  we  or  you  to  have  most 
patience  ?     When  the  widowed  mother  sits  watching  the 
shortening  breath  of  her  child,  hovering  between  life  and 
death, — it  may  be  that  the   rent  has  not  been  paid, — it 
may  be  that  her  fuel  has  not  yet  been  settled  for ;  but 
what  would  you  think  of  that  landlord  or  of  that  provis 
ion  dealer  that  would  send  a  warrant  of  distress  when  the 
funeral  was  going  out  of  the  door,  and  arrest  her  when 
she  was  walking  to    the  grave  with  her  first-born   son. 
Even  a  brute  would  say,  "  Wait — wait !  "     Yet  it  was  in 
the  hour  of  our  mortal  anguish,  that  when,  by  an  unau 
thorized  act,  one    of   the  captains  of  our  navy  seized  a 
British  ship  for  which  our  government  instantly  offered 


r>4  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

all  reparation,  that  a  British  army  was  hurried  to  Canada. 
I  do  not  undertake  to  teach  the  law  that  governs  the 
question :  but  this  I  do  undertake  to  say,  and  I  will  carry 
every  generous  man  in  this  audience  with  me,  when  I 
affirm  that  if  between  America,  bent  -double  with  the 
anguish  of  this  bloody  war,  and  Great  Britain,  who  sits  at 
peace,  there  is  to  be  forbearance  on  either  side,  it  is  on 
your  side.  (Applause.)  Here  then  I  rest  my  cause  to 
night,  asking  every  one  of  you  to  unite  with  me  in  pray 
ing,  that  God,  the  arbiter  of  the  fates  of  nations,  would 
so  guide  the  issue,  that  those  who  struggle  for  liberty 
shall  be  victorious ;  and  that  God,  who  sways  the  hearts 
of  nations,  may  so  sway  the  hearts  of  Great  Britain  and 
America,  that  not  to  the  remotest  period  of  time  shall 
there  be  dissension,  but  golden  concord  between  them, 
for  their  own  sakes  and  for  the  good  of  the  whole  world. 
(Great  cheering.) 

Several  questions  having  been  put  and  answered,  the 
Rev.  Dr.  George  Jeffrey  moved  and  Councillor  Alexander 
seconded  a  resolution  expressive  of  approbation  of 
Mr.  Beecher's  able  and  uncompromising  advocacy  of  the 
rights  of  the  slave  to  freedom,  and  thanking  him  for 
the  very  admirable  and  eloquent  address  delivered  that 
evening,  which  was  carried  amid  great  and  prolonged 
cheering. 


IN  ENGLAXD  AV    1863. 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  IN    THE    FREE    CHURCH 
ASSEMBLY,  HALL,  EDINBURGH,  OCT.  14,  1863. 

LONG  before  the  hour  fixed  for  the  meeting,  all  the 
entrances  to  the  Hall  were  besieged  by  large  masses  of  f 
people  ;  and  the  rush  for  places  was  so  great  that  a  few 
minutes  after  the  opening  of  the  doors  every  available 
seat  was  taken  possession  of.  Crowds  of  people  still 
continued  to  pour  into  the  Hall,  and  the  passages  became 
crammed.  As  the  time  arrived  for  the  entrance  of  the 
chairman  and  Mr.  Beecher,  it  became  a  serious  question 
how  they  were  to  gain  admission  to  the  Hall.  All  doubt 
was  set  at  rest  on  the  matter  by  loud  cries  arising  from 
the  east  doorway  that  Mr.  Beecher  could  not  obtain 
an  entrance.  A  great  effort  was  made  to  gain  a 
passage  for  the  reverend  gentleman,  who,  after  some  time, 
managed  to  reach  the  chair,  and  was  received  with  loud 
and  prolonged  cheers.  Some  of  the  gentlemen  for  whom 
seats  had  been  reserved  on  the. platform  also  gained  ad 
mission — some  by  the  passage,  and  others  by  climbing  to 
the  Moderator's  gallery  and  walking  along  the  ledge — 
but  it  was  discovered  that  the  chairman,  Mr.  Duncan 
M'Laren  was  still  missing.  After  the  lapse  of  a  few  min 
utes,  however,  Mr.  M'Laren  and  four  French  gentlemen, 


96 


HEATRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


including  M.  Gamier  Pages,  also  got  in;  and  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  meeting  commenced. 

The  CHAIRMAN  said  : — Ladies  and  Gentlemen,— 
May  I  entreat  as  a  great  favor  that  the  utmost  quietness 
be  preserved,  because  I  have  often  observed  that  it  is 
those  in  a  large  meeting  who,  with  the  best  intentions  in 
the  world,  cry  "  Peace,"  that  practically  make  all  the 
noise.  (Laughter.)  Since  I  have  been  made  chairman, 
every  one,  I  have  no  doubt,  will  be  quite  disposed  to 
give  up  a  little  of  his  personal  liberty  to  my  dictation  to 
night.  You  know  what  the  meeting  is  about.  The  ad 
vertisement  tells  you  honestly  what  the  object  is  in  call 
ing  you  together,  and  therefore  there  is  no  person  here 
present  who  has  any  right  to  take  offence  at  anything  that 
is  said  within  the  four  quarters  of  the  hall.  ("  Oh,  oh," 
applause  and  hisses.)  The  objects  of  the  meeting  are 
twofold — the  first  is  to  hear  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher.  (Loud  and  prolonged  applause.)  That  means 
that  we  are  to  hear  him  express  his  own  opinions,  and 
whether  or  no  these  opinions  may  be  in  unison  with  your 
opinions  or  with  mine,  that  is  a  matter  of  which  the 
meeting  has,  I  apprehend,  no  right  to  complain.  We  are 
greatly  indebted  to  him,  I  think,  for  responding  to  the 
call.  He  has  been  toiling  night  and  day,  I  may  say,  in 
Manchester,  Liverpool,  Glasgow,  and  other  towns ;  and 
he  has  come  here  on  a  very  short  notice,  and  your  anxiety 
to  hear  him  has  been  such  that  you  almost  excluded  him. 

The  Rev.   Dr.  Candlish  has  sent   an  apology  for  not 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  97 

being  here.  There  is  less  cause  for  regret,  because  he 
was  the  author  of  the  beautiful  answer  that  recently  ap 
peared  in  the  newspapers  from  the  ministers  of  Scotland 
to  the  address  of  the  ministers  of  the  United  States.  As 
the  document  met  with  such  universal  acceptance,  the 
committee  who  had  charge  of  making  the  arrangements 
for  this  meeting  thought  that,  in  place  of  originating  any 
resolution  of  their  own,  they  would  just  extract  a  small 
portion  from  that  admirable  paper,  convert  it  into  a  reso 
lution,  and  ask  you  to  condemn  slavery  in  the  terms  in 
which  it  is  condemned  in  the  address  prepared  by  Dr. 
Candlish  and  other  distinguished  men.  That  will  be  the 
only  resolution  which  will  be  submitted  to  you,  except  the 
usual  formal  votes  which  take  place  at  all  meetings.  The 
document  to  which  I  have  referred  has  already  received 
the  signatures  of  about  a  thousand  ministers,  and  they 
are  coming  in  by  scores  every  day,  expressing  the  opinion 
of  all  parts  of  Scotland.  So  much  for  the  origin  and  na 
ture  of  the  meeting.  I  feel  that  in  this  question,  which 
has  been  so  keenly  contested  in  this  country,  there  may 
be  great  difference  of  opinion  on  the  part  of  the  persons 
who  are  here  present.  I  entreat  that  whatever  difference 
of  opinion  may  exist,  every  one  may  be  heard  fairly  and 
courteously,  and  if  the  resolution  which  is  proposed  to 
the  meeting  be  disapproved  of,  and  any  gentleman  comes 
forward  to  the  platform  to  move  an  amendment,  I  will  do 
as  much  to  give  him  a  hearing  for  his  speech,  if  within 
the  scope  of  the  resolution,  as  I  would  do  to  any  other 
7 


t}'\  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER*S  s 

gentleman.  I  am  most  anxious  that  everything  should 
be  done  in  such  a  straightforward  manner  as  will  com 
mend  itself  to  all  lovers  of  fair  play.  I  may  just  state,  in 
addition,  this  one  fact,  that  from  other  circumstances  we 
have  been  honored  in  this  city  with  the  presence  of  many 
distinguished  foreigners,  and  among  these  three  or  four 
gentlemen  who  were  to  have  gone  by  the  six  o'clock  train 
to-night  in  order  to  get  to  Paris  to-morrow  morning. 
They  kindly  agreed  to  testify  their  detestation  of  slavery 
by  attending  at  this  meeting,  in  order  to  say  a  few  words 
in  unison  with  what  I  have  no  doubt  will  be  said  by  Mr. 
Beecher.  These  are  M.  £arnier  Pages — (loud  cheers) — 
M.  Desmarest,  and  M.  Henri  Martyn,  the  distinguished 
historian  of  France.  (Applause.)  Mr.  M'Laren  con 
cluded  by  introducing  Mr.  Beecher  to  the  meeting. 

Mr.  BEECHER,  on  coming  forward,  was  received 
with  loud  and  prolonged  cheers  and  some  hissing.  When 
silence  had  been  restored,  he  said  : — I  should  regret  to 
have  my  associations  of  this,  the  most  picturesque  city  of 
the  world,  disturbed  as  they  would  be,  if  I  thought  that 
you  needed  so  much  preparatory  pleading  to  persuade 
you  to  hear  me.  I  have  lived  in  a  very  stormy  time  in 
my  own  land,  where  men  who  did  not  believe  in  my  senti 
ments  had  pecuniary  and  political  interests  in  disturbing 
meetings,  but  neither  in  East,  nor  West,  nor  in  all  the 
Middle  States,  have  I  thought  it  necessary  to  ask  an  au 
dience  to  hear  me — not  even  in  America,  the  country,  as 
we  have  lately  been  informed,  of  mobs  !  (Loud  cheers  and 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  99 

laughter.)  I  am  not  to-night  a  partisan  seeki-ng  for  pros 
elytes.  I  have  no  other  interests  to  serve  but  those  which 
are  common  to  all  good  men — the  interests  of  truth,  of 
justice,  of  liberty,  and  of  good  morals.  If  I  differ  with 
you  in  the  way  in  which  they  are  to  be  promoted,  what 
then  ?  Cannot  you  hear  opinions  that  you  do  not  be 
lieve  ?  I  am  so  firm  in  my  convictions  that  I  can  bear 
to  hear  their  opposites.  It  is  not  then  so  much  to 
persuade  you  to  my  views,  though  I  should  be  glad  to 
do  that,  as  it  is  to  give  a  full  and  frank  expression 
of  them,  supposing  that  there  are  many  here  that 
would  be  interested  in  a  statement  of  affairs,  as  they 
are  now  proceeding  on  the  continent  of  America, 
if,  for  no  other  reason — at  least  for  the  philosophic 
interest  there  must  be  in  this  passing  phenomena.  It 
may  be  to  you  but  a  simple  question  of  national  psy 
chology  ;  it  may  be  to  some  of  you  a  matter  of  sympathy  ; 
but  whether  it  be  philosophic  interest  or  whether  it  be 
humanitarian  and  moral  interest,  it  shall  be  my  business 
to  speak,  for  the  most  part,  of  what  I  know,  and.  so  to 
speak  that  you  shall  be  in  no  doubt  whatever  of  my  convic 
tions.  (Loud  cheers  and  laughter.)  America  has  been 
going  through  an  extraordinary  revolution  unconsciously 
and  interiorly,  which  began  when  her  present  national 
form  was  assumed,  which  is  now  developing  itself,  but 
which  existed  and  was  in  progress  just  as  much  before  as 
now  that  it  is  seen.  The  earlier  problem  was  how  to 
establish  an  absolute  independence  in  States  from  all  ex- 


1Oo         HENRY  WARD  BE  EC  HER 'S  SPEECHES 

ternal  control.  Next  (and  this  is  the  peculiar  interest 
of  the  period  which  formed  our  Constitution),  how,  out 
of  independent  States  to  form  a  Nation,  yet  without  de 
stroying  local  sovereignty  ?  The  period  of  germination 
and  growth  of  the  Union  of  the  separate  colonies  is 
threefold.  The  first  colonies  that  planted  the  American 
shores  were  separate,  and  jealous  of  their  separateness. 
Sent  from  the  mother  country  with  a  strong  hatred  of 
oppression,  they  went  with  an  intense  individualism,  and 
sought  to  set  up,  each  party,  its  little  colony,  where  they 
would  be  free  to  follow  their  convictions  and  the  dictates 
of  conscience.  And  nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  the 
earlier  politics  of  the  colonists  than  their  jealous  isola 
tion,  for  fear  that  even  contact  would  contaminate.  Two 
or  three  efforts  were  made  within  the  first  twenty  or 
twenty-five  years  of  their  existence  to  bring  them  together 
in  Union.  Delegates  met  and  parted,  met  again  and 
parted.  Indian  wars  drove  them  together.  It  became 
by  external  dangers  necessary  that  there  should  be  a 
Union  of  those  early  colonies,  but  there  was  a  fear  that 
in  going  into  Union  they  would  lose  something  of  the 
sovereignty  that  belonged  to  them  as  colonial  States. 
The  first  real  Union  that  took  place  was  that  of  1643, 
between  the  colonists  of  what  is  now  New  England.  It 
is  a  little  remarkable,  I  may  say  in  passing,  that  the 
fugitive  slave  clause  of  our  Constitution  is  founded 
almost  in  so  many  words  on  the  first  Articles  of  Federa 
tion  that  were  made  in  1643  between  these  little  New 


IN  ENGLA  ND  IN  1 863.  r  o  J 

England  colonies.  This  earliest  Union  was  the  type  and 
model  of  later  ones.  With  various  alterations  of  fortune 
the  country  grew,  but  maintained  a;  Bod:  pi  jtrregulaf 
Union  as  exigencies  pressed  upon^if/'  It  was 'not  until 
1777,  a  year  and  a  half  after  the  I>ecla*ajtK)n roj'  Ind^efo: 
dence,  and  while  the  colonies  were  at  full  war  with  the 
mother  country,  that  what  is  called  the  Articles  of  Feder 
ation  were  adopted ;  and  this  was  the  second  period  of 
Union,  when  the  Southern  States,  the  Middle  States, 
and  the  states  of  New  England  came  together  in  Federa 
tion,  which  was  declared,  in  the  preamble,  to  be  perpet 
ual.  But  about  ten  years  after  these  articles  were 
framed,  they  were  found  to  be  utterly  inadequate 
for  the  exigencies  of  the  times  ;  and  in  1787  the  present 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  adopted  by  con 
vention,  and,  at  different  dates  thereafter,  ratified  by  the 
thirteen  States  that  first  constituted  the  present  Union. 
Now,  during  all  this  period  of  the  first  Union  of  1643, 
the  second  Union  of  1777,  and  the  third  or  final  Union — 
the  present  one — of  1787,  there  is  one  thing  to  be  re 
marked,  and  that  is,  the  jealousy  of  State  independence. 
The  States  were  feeling  their  way  towards  nationality; 
and  the  rule  and  measure  of  the  wisdom  of  every  step 
was,  how  to  maintain  individuality  with  nationality. 
That  was  their  problem.  It  never  had  been  found  out 
for  them.  They  had  some  analogies,  but  these  were 
only  analogies.  In  that  wilderness,  for  the  first  time, 
the  problem  was  about  to  be  solved — How  can  there  be 


102  HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER  ^S  SPEECHES 

absolute  independence  in  local  government  with  perfect 
nationality  ?     Slavery  was  only  incidental  during  all  this 
i:lo-i>g  period  £ -  b&t  3n:  reading  from   contemporaneous  doc 
uments  and  debates  Aat  took  place   in  conventions  both 
j£?  ;£fpTifedei3tfpBi\in!i''  for  final  Union,  it  is  remarkable 
that  the  difficulties  which  arose  were  difficulties  of  repre 
sentation,  difficultiesjof  taxation,  difficulties  of  tariff  and 
revenue  and,  so  far  as  we  can  find,   neither  North  nor 
South   anticipated  in   the  future   any  of   those   dangers 
which   have   overspread   the   continent    from    the   black 
cloud  of  slavery.     The  dangers  they  most  feared,  they 
have  suffered  least  from  :  the  dangers  they  have  suffered 
most  from,  they  did  not  at  all  anticipate,   or  but  little. 
But  the  Union  was  formed.     The  Constitution,  defining 
the  national  power  conferred  by  the    States  on   the  Fed 
eral  Government,  was  adopted.     Thenceforward,  for  fifty 
years  and   more,  the  nation  developed   itself   in   wealth 
and    political   power,  until,  from   a   condition    of   feeble 
States  exhausted  by  war,  it  rose  to  the   dignity  of  a  first- 
class  nation.     We  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  gradual 
and  unconscious  development  within  this  American  nation 
of  two  systems  of  policy,  antagonistic  and  irreconcilable. 
Let  us    look   at   the    South   first.     She    was   undergoing 
unconscious  transmutation.     She  did  not  know   it.     She 
did  not  know  what  ailed  her.     She  felt  ill — (laughter) — 
put  her  hand  on  her  heart  sometimes ;  on  her  head  some 
times  ;  but  had  no  doctor  to  tell   her  what  it  was,  until 
too  late ;  and  when  told  she  would  not  believe.     (Laugh- 


IN  ENGL  A ND  L\ r  1 863.  r  03 

ter  and  cheers.)  For  it  is  a  fact,  that  when  the  colonies 
combined  in  their  final  Union,  slavery  was  waning  not 
only  in  the  Middle  and  Northern  States  but  also  in  the 
South  itself.  When  therefore  they  went  into  this  Union, 
slavery  was  perishing,  partly  by  climate  in  the  North, 
and  still  more  by  the  convictions  of  the  people,  and  by 
the  unproductive  character  of  farm-slavery.  Slavery  is 
profitable  only  by  breeding  and  on  plantations.  In  the 
North  it  never  was  very  profitable,  though  somewhat  con 
venient  as  a  household  matter  ;  for  if  you  can  get  a 
good  chambermaid  and  a  good  cook,  it  is  worth  while  to 
keep  them.  (Laughter.)  There  was  for  the  most  part  in 
New  England  only  the  shadow  of  slavery — household 
slavery.  The  first  period  of  the  South  was  the  wane  and 
weakness  of  slavery.  Nevertheless  it  existed.  The  sec 
ond  period  is  the  increase  of  slavery,  and  its  apolo 
getic  defence  ;  for,  with  the  invention  of  the  cotton  gin, 
an  extraordinary  demand  for  cotton  sprang  up.  Slave 
labor  began  to  be  more  and  more  in  demand,  and  the 
price  of  slaves  rose ;  but  still  there  was  a  number  of 
years  within  my  remembrance — and  I  am  not  a  patriarch 
— in  which  men  said  :  "  Slavery  is  among  us  ;  we  don't 
know  how  to  get  rid  of  it ;  we  accept  it  as  an  evil ;  we 
wish  we  had  a  better  system,  but  it  is  a  misfortune  and 
not  a  fault."  I  remember  the  apologetic  period.  Then 
came  the  next  period,  one  of  revolution  of  opinion  as  to 
the  inferior  races  of  the  South,  a  total  and  entire  change 
in  the  doctrines  of  the  South  on  the  question  of  human 


!  04          //A  A  A'  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

rights  and  human  nature.  It  dates  from  Mr.  Calhoun. 
From  the  hour  that  Mr.  Calhoun  began  to  teach,  there  com 
menced  a  silent  process  of  moral  deterioration.  I  call  it  a 
retrogression  in  morals — an  apostasy.  Men  no  longer 
apologized  for  slavery  ;  they  learned  to  defend  it ;  to  teach 
that  it  was  the  normal  condition  of  an  inferior  race  ;  that 
the  seeds  and  history  of  it  were  in  the  Word  of  God  ;  that 
the  only  condition  in  which  a  Republic  can  be  prosperous, 
is  where  an  aristocracy  owns  the  labor  of  the  community. 
That  was  the  doctrine  of  the  South,  and  with  that  doctrine 
there  began  to  be  ambitious  designs,  not  only  for  the 
maintenance  but  for  the  propagation  of  slavery.  This 
era  of  propagation  and  aggression  constitutes  the  fourth 
and  last  period  of  the  revolution  of  the  South.  They  had 
passed  through  a  whole  cycle  of  changes.  These  changes 
followed  certain  great  laws.  No  sooner  was  the  new 
philosophy  set  on  foot,  than  the  South  recognized  its  le 
gitimacy  and  accepted  it  with  all  its  inferences  and  inevi 
table  tendencies.  They  gave  up  wavering  and  misgivings, 
adopted  the  institution — praised  it,  loved  it,  defended  it, 
sought  to  maintain  it,  burned  to  spread  it.  During  the 
last  fifteen  years,  I  believe  you  cannot  find  a  voice,  printed 
or  uttered,  in  the  cotton  States  of  the  South,  which  de 
plored  slavery.  All  believed  in  and  praised  it,  and  found 
authority  for  it  in  God's  Word.  Politicians  admired  it, 
merchants  appreciated  it,  the  whole  South  sang  paeans  to 
the  new-found  truth,  that  man  was  born  to  be  owned  by 
man.  This  change  of  doctrine  made  it  certain,  that  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  I05 

South  would  be  annoyed  and  irritated  by  a  Constitution 
which,  with  all  its  faults,  still  carried  the  God-given  prin 
ciple  of  human  rights,  which  were  not   to  be   taken  by 
man  except  in  punishment  for  crime.     That  Constitution, 
and  the  policy  which  went  with  it  at  first,  began   to  gnaw 
at,  and   irritate,    and   fret   the     South,    when     they   had 
adopted  slavery  as  a  doctrine.     How  could  they  live  in 
peace   under   a   Constitution  that  all  the  time  declared 
the    manhood    of    men    and   the    dignity   of   freedom  ? 
It  became  necessary  that  they  should  do  one  of  two  things, 
either  give  up  slavery,  or  appropriate  the  government  to 
themselves,  in  some  way  or  other  drain  out  of  the  Consti 
tution  this  venom  of  liberty,  and  infuse  a  policy  more  in 
harmony  with    Southern    ideas.     They  took     the    latter 
course.     They   contrived   to  possess    themselves  of   the 
government ;  and  for  the  last  fifty  years  the  policy  of  the 
country  has  been   Southern.     Was  a  tariff  wanted  ?     It 
was  made  a  Southern  tariff.     Was  a  tariff   oppressive  ? 
The     Southerners    overthrew   it.     Was   a   tariff   wanted 
again  ?       The     Southern     policy     declared     it    to    be 
necessary,    and    it    was    passed.     Was     more    territory 
wanted  ?     The  South  must  have  its  way.     Was  any  man 
to  obtain  a  place  ?     If  the  South  opposed  it,  he  had   no 
chance  whatever.     For  fifty  years  most  of  the  men  who 
became  judges,  who  sat  in  the   Presidential   chair  and  in 
the   Courts,  had  to  base   their  opinions  on  slavery  or  on 
Southern  views.     All  the  filibustering,  all  the   intimida 
tions    of  foreign   Powers,   all  the   so-called   snubbing    of 


1 06         HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

European  Powers,  happened  during  the  period  in  which 
the  policy  of  the  country  was  controlled  by  the  South. 
May  I  be  permitted  to  look  on  it  as  a  mark  of  victorious 
Christianity,  that  England  now  loves  her  worst  enemy, 
and  is  sitting  with  arms  of  sympathy  round  her  neck  ? 
There  was  at  the  same  time  a  revolution  going  on  in  the 
North  unconsciously.  The  first  period  of  revolution  be 
gun  in  the  North  was,  what  might  be  called  the  founda 
tion-laying.  Material  wealth  began  to  be  amassed,  manu 
facturing  and  farm  labor  flourished,  schools  were  multi 
plied,  colleges  were  rising.  It  was  a  period  in  which  the 
North  was  developing  and  consolidating  its  power. 
Then,  for  many  years — and  it  is  a  count  of  about  thirty 
years  ago — the  North  began  to  be  assailed  by  bold 
prophets  of  the  truth,  and  a  crusade  was  commenced 
against  slavery.  I  was  then  a  boy,  but  old  enough  to  be  a 
spectator  and  a  sympathizer.  Those  men,  for  the  most 
part,  have  gone  down  into  their  graves — their  names  not 
yet  honored  as  they  will  be  ;  for  the  day  is  coming,  when 
round  their  names,  and  the  names  of  all  who  have  been 
faithful  to  the  sacred  cause  of  liberty,  there  will  be  hung 
garlands,  and  they  shall  be  clothed  with  honor ;  but 
around  the  brows  of  those  who  have  betrayed  their 
country  to  despotism  shall  shine  lurid  light  in  flame  that 
shall  consume.  The  man  who  was  an  abolitionist  when 
I  was  twenty-one  years  of  age  might  bid  farewell  to  any 
hopes  of  political  advancement ;  and  the  merchant 
who  held  these  opinions  was  soon  robbed  of  cus- 


IN  ENGLAXJ)  IX  1863.  Io^ 

tomers.  As  far  as  I  remember,  there  was  nothing 
in  the  world  that  so  ruined  a  man — not  crime  itself 
was  so  fatal  to  a  man's  standing  in  the  country — 
as  to  be  known  to  hold  abolition  sentiments.  The 
churches  sought  to  keep  the  question  of  slavery  out; 
so  did  the  schools  and  colleges ;  so  did  synods  and  con 
ventions  ;  but  still  the  cause  of  abolition  progressed  ;  and 
still,  as  is  always  the  case  with  everything  that  is  right, 
though  the  men  who  held  those  sentiments  were  scoffed 
at,  though  such  men  as  Garrison  were  dragged  through 
the  streets  with  halters  round  their  necks,  yet,  the  more 
it  was  spoken  of  and  canvassed,  the  more  the  cause"  pros 
pered,  because  it  was  true.  (Cheers.)  The  insanity  at 
last  abated  ;  for  the  command  came  from  on  High,  saying 
to  the  evil  spirit  concerning  the  North  :  "  I  command  thee 
to  come  out  of  her."  Then  the  nation  wallowed  on  the 
ground,  and  foamed  at  the  mouth  ;  but  the  unclean  spirit 
passed  out,  and  she  became  clean.  The  more  some  people 
wanted  to  keep  down  the  subject  and  keep  out  the  air, 
the  more  God  forced  the  subject  on  their  minds.  If  you 
let  a  steam-engine,  when  it  is  full  of  steam,  only  hiss  at 
the  rivets,  with  the  scape-valve  open,  it  cannot  explode ; 
but  if  the  steam  is  shut  up,  and  the  valve  closed,  it  will  be 
still  for  a  moment,  and  then  like  thunder,  it  will  go  off  ! 
So  it  was  in  regard  to  this  subject.  Those  who  discussed 
it  became  convinced  of  its  truth;  but  those  who  would 
not  permit  it  to  be  spoken  of,  and  shut  it  up,  exploded. 
(Laughter  and  cheers.)  About  this  time  the  South  began 


10(S          HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER'S  SPEECHES 

to  take  such  steps  as  more  and  more  brought  the  North 
into  a  rightful  frame  of  mind.  The  first  conflict  that 
arose  between  the  South  and  the  North  was  in  regard  to 
the  admission  of  the  new  State  of  Missouri  in  1818. 
The  North  contended  that  there  should  be  no  more 
slave  States — the  doctrine  that  is  now  being  revived 
as  the  Republican  doctrine.  It  was  the  original  doctrine 
and  conviction,  that  slavery  might  be  tolerated  where  it 
was,  but  that  no  more  States  should  be  admitted.  When 
Missouri  knocked  at  the  door,  there  were  those  who  op 
posed  its  admission  as  a  slave  State,  but  by  Southern 
management  and  intimidation  Henry  Clay  persuaded  the 
North  to  a  compromise.  Now,  when  there  is  no  differ 
ence  in  principle,  but  only  conflicting  interests,  a  com 
promise  is  honorable  and  right,  but  when  antagonistic 
principles  are  in  question,  I  believe  compromises  to  be 
bargains  with  the  devil,  who  is  never  cheated.  (Loud 
laughter  and  cheers.)  The  North  gave  up  her  principles 
and  admitted  the  Missouri  State  with  slavery  as  an  ex 
ception,  and  by  the  compromise  obtained  a  line  of  latitude 
that  should  limit  slavery.  Above  the  latitude  of  36  °  30' 
all  States,  except  Missouri,  were  to  be  free ;  south  of 
that  line  there  might  be  slave  States.  By  this  concession 
they  gave  up  the  whole  principle,  as  such  compromises 
always  must.  Then  came  the  next  conflict.  The  policy  of 
the  North  and  the  policy  of  the  South  again  jarred  against 
each  other.  The  North  was  striving,  according  to  the  spirit 
of  the  Constitution  and  the  convictions  of  the  fathers  of  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

country,  the  founders  of  the  Union,  to  carry  out  the  doc 
trines  of  liberty.  The  South  became  ambitious,  and  hav 
ing  possession  of  the  Government,  aimed  to  enforce  their* 
ideas  of  slavery  upon  the  whole  continent.  Hence  ad 
mission  of  Texas  and  the  war  with  Mexico  for  the  sake 
of  territory.  Next  were  seized  the  regions  of  New  Mexico 
and  California.  These  were  added  to  the  Union  not  by 
the  North,  but  by  the  South.  Then  came  the  compromise 
measures  of  1850,  and  the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  which  the 
North  accepted  finally,  as  children  take  medicine,  when 
the  silver  spoon  is  forced  into  their  teeth,  and  they  are 
almost  choked  to  make  them  take  it.  (Laughter.)  Then 
came  the  only  abolition  that  I  ever  heard  the  South  were 
in  favor  of — the  abolition  of  the  Missouri  compromise. 
What  that  was,  I  have  just  been  telling  you.  But  now 
the  South  suddenly  found  out,  that  the  compromise  was 
unconstitutional  and  void.  They  claimed  to  abolish  the 
compromise  and  have  slave  States  north  of  the  line  36° 
30'.  The  North,  incensed  and  indignant,  yet  held  back, 
from  love  for  the  Union  of  the  States,  and  gave  up  their 
own  convictions  and  their  proper  line  of  duty.  After 
the  abolition  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  it  was  declared 
by  the  South,  that  the  doctrine  of  Popular  sovereignty 
should  be  established — a  doctrine  to  the  effect  that  when 
the  admission  of  a  State  was  determined  on,  it  should 
come  in  a  slave  State  or  a  free  State,  according  to  the 
vote  of  the  population.  The  South  carried  this  measure, 
and  the  moment  they  carried  it  they  attempted  to  get 


1IO          //AVVAT  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

Kansas  introduced  as  a  slave  State  ;  but  the  Northern 
men  were  too  quick  for  them — (laughter  and  applause) 
— for  they  sent  such  a  superabundant  population  into 
Kansas,  that  they  soon  lifted  the  white  banner  without  a 
black  star  upon  it.  (Cheers.)  The  instant  this  was  done, 
the  South  turned  round  and  said,  "  Popular  sovereignty  is 
not  constitutional  or  expedient.  (Laughter  and  applause.) 
The  States  applying  for  admission  shall  not  have  the 
liberty  of  saying  whether  they  will  come  in  free  or  slave." 
This  was  the  work  of  Mr.  Sliddell — (hisses) — now  minis 
ter  for  the  Southern  States  in  Paris.  (Hisses  and  slight 
applause).  I  wish  he  were  in  this  hall  to  hear  you  hiss 
ing.  By  this  time  the  North  was  thoroughly  roused  and 
indignant.  They  had  at  length  opened  their  eyes,  and 
reluctantly  began  to  see  that  the  South  meant  nothing 
short  of  forcing  slavery  over  the  whole  continent.  The 
North  thereupon  grew  firmer,  and  in  1856  nominated 
Fremont,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that  they  were  no 
longer  to  be  browbeaten  by  slavery.  He  failed ;  but 
failed  in  the  noblest  way,  by  the  cheats  of  his  opponents. 
The  State  that  gave  us  Buchanan  to  be  a  burden  for  four 
years,  was  the  State  in  which  the  cheating  t(K)k  place. 
Then  came  the  last  act  of  this  revolution  of  feeling  in  the 
North — the  election  of  Mr.  Lincoln.  (Loud  and  pro 
tracted  cheering.)  The  principle  that  was  laid  down  as 
a  distinct  feature  of  the  platform  on  which  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  elected,  was,  that  there  should  be  no  more  slave  ter 
ritories — in  other  words,  the  breathing  hole  was  stopped 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  1 1 1 

up,  and  slavery  had  no  air  ;  it  was  only  a  question  of 
time  how  long  it  would  last  before  it  would  be  suffocated. 
(Laughter  and  cheers.)  The  North  respected  the  doc 
trine  of  State  rights,  when  Georgia  said,  that  slavery  was 
municipal  and  local,  and  that  the  government  of  the 
United  States  had  no  right  to  touch  slavery  in  Georgia. 
The  North  accepted  the  doctrine.  It  was  true,  that  they 
could  not  touch  slavery  in  the  States  :  yet  the  North  had 
a  right,  in  connection  with  the  Middle  States,  to  say, 
"  Although  in  certain  States  slavery  exists  beyond  our 
political  reach,  yet  the  territory  that  is  free  and  is  not 
beyond  our  jurisdiction  shall  not  be  touched  by  the  foot 
of  a  slave."  That  was  the  spark  which  exploded  and  this 
is  the  war  that  followed ;  for  the  South  knew  perfectly 
well, — and  there  is  no  place  where  logic  is  better  under 
stood  than  in  the  South, — that  if  limits  were  set  to  the 
Slave  States,  if  the  territory  could  be  no  further  extended, 
the  prosperity  of  the  slave-holders  was  at  an  end.  They 
determined  that  that  doctrine  should  be  broken  up,  and 
they  went  into  the  Secession-war  for  that  very  pur 
pose.  All  these  were  conflicts  between  the  North  and 
the  South,  about  the  growth  of  slavery,  and  in  all  but  one 
of  them  the  South  had  its  own  way.  The  States  had 
been  charging  each  other  with  guilt,  and  with  infidelity  to 
obligations,  but  it  was  now  collision.  It  was  the  attrac 
tion  of  great  underlying  influences  that  moved  both  South 
and  North.  The  principle  which  had  been  operating  in 
the  North  for  many  years  was  the  principle  of  free  labor, 


j  I2          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

while  the  principle  which  had  impregnated  all  Southern 
minds  was  the  principle  of  slave-labor.  The  result  is 
this.  The  South  is  exhausting  the  whole  life  of  the 
States  in  defence  of  slavery.  This  is  historical  now.  The 
great  cause  of  the  conflict — the  centre  of  necessity,  round 
which  the  cannons  roar  and  the  bayonets  gleam, — is  the 
preservation  of  slavery.  Beyond  slavery,  there  is  no 
difference  between  North  and  South.  Their  interests 
are  identical,  with  the  exception  of  WORK.  The  North 
is  for  free  work — the  South  is  for  slave  work  ;  and  the 
whole  war  in  the  South,  though  it  is  for  independence, 
is,  nevertheless,  expressly  in  order  to  have  slavery  more 
firmly  established  by  that  independence.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  whole  policy  of  the  North,  now  at  last  regen 
erated,  and  made  consistent  with  their  documents,  their 
history,  and  real  belief — the  whole  policy  of  the  North,  as 
well  as  the  whole  work  of  the  North,  rejoicing  at  length 
to  be  set  free  from  antagonism,  bribes,  and  intimidations, 
— is  for  liberty ;  liberty  for  every  man  in  the  world.  I 
wish  you  to  consider  for  a  moment  what  is  the  result  of 
this  state  of  things  in  the  North.  There  never  was  so 
united  a  purpose  as  there  is  to-day  to  crush  the  rebellion. 
We  have  had  nearly  three  years  of  turmoil  and  disturb 
ance,  and  it  not  only  has  not  taken  away  that  determina 
tion,  but  it  has  increased  it.  In  the  beginning  of  this  con 
flict  we  were  peculiarly  English.  What  do  I  mean  by 
that?  Well,  if  I  have  observed  aright,  England  goes 
into  wars  to  make  blunders  at  first,  always,  but  you  must 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  n^ 

be  aware,  that  in  the  end  it  is  not  England  that  has  blun 
dered.  I  have  noticed,  in  the  course  of  my  study  of  the 
Peninsula  war  under  Wellington,  that  the  first  whole 
year  was  a  series  of  blunders  and  fraudulent  squandering; 
but,  if  I  recollect  aright,  at  last  the  same  Wellington 
drove  his  foes  out  of  the  Peninsula.  (Cheers.)  And  so 
it  is  with  us.  We  have  so  much  English  blood  in  our 
veins,  that  when  we  began  this  war  we  blundered  and 
blundered  ;  but  we  are  doing  better  and  better  every  step. 
There  has  been  time  enough  for  mere  enthusiasm  to  have 
cooled  in  the  North.  That  has  passed  away.  Enthusi 
asm  is  like  the  vapor,  just  enough  condensed  to  let  the 
sun  striking  upon  it  fill  it  with  gorgeous  colors ;  but  when 
still  further  it  condenses,  and  falls  in  drops  for  the  thirsty 
man  to  drink,  or  carries  the  river  to  the  cataract,  then  it 
has  become  useful  and  substantial.  Enthusiasm  at  first 
is  that  airy  cloud ;  but  when  it  has  become  a  principle  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people,  then  it  becomes  substantial; 
and  such  is  the  case  in  the  North.  Enthusiasm  has 
changed  its  form,  and  is  now  based  on  substantial  moral 
principle.  The  loss  of  our  sons  in  battle  has  been  griev 
ous  ;  but  we  accept  it  as  God's  will,  and  we  are  deter 
mined  that  every  martyred  son  shall  have  a  representa 
tive  in  one  hundred  liberated  slaves.  Never  was  such  a 
unity  of  Christian  men  in  the  North  as  there  is  to-day.  I 
have  in  my  possession  some  two  hundred  resolutions, 
passed  by  different  Christian  churches  and  denominations 
in  America,  saving  the  Roman  Catholics.  In  every  form 


I  14  HENRY  WARD  HKECI1ER  'S  SPEECHES* 

of  language  they  express  themselves  alike  resolute  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  government  and  the  crushing  of  the 
rebellion.  I  may  say  that  there  is  no  seam  in  the  gar 
ment  that  binds  us  together.  We  are  one.  The  Peace- 
Democrats  have  tried  three  times  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
war,  and  every  time  they  tried  it,  it  became  evident  that 
the  only  platform  in  America,  on  which  this  subject  can 
be  discussed,  is  this — that  the  war  must  be  carried  on  till 
the  Union  is  re-established.  The  Americans  are  a  prac 
tical  people.  They  know  their  own  business.  No  one 
so  well  able  as  they  are,  to  judge  what  they  want :  and 
when  they  have  deliberately  arrived  at  a  firm  resolve,  they 
surely  are  to  be  regarded,  at  least  with  respect,  if  not 
with  sympathy.  This  much  we  expect,  that  when  a  peo 
ple  twenty  millions  strong,  intelligent,  moral,  and,  as  you 
know,  thrifty — when  people  of  this  sort,  after  three  years 
of  deliberation,  are  fixed  on  one  purpose,  they  at  least 
demand  courtesy,  if  not  respect.  We  are  told  that  we 
are  breaking  our  constitutional  obligations  by  the  meas 
ures  we  have  taken  ;  but  we  were  forced  to  adopt  those 
measures,  and  the  reasons  are  abundant  and  plain.  How  ? 
When  a  fire  first  breaks  out,  the  engineer  goes  down 
and  plays  upon  the  fire,  thinking  that  he  will  be  able  to 
save  the  furniture  and  the  neighboring  houses ;  but,  as 
the  devouring  element  increases,  and  threatens  destruc 
tion  to  all  around,  the  engineer  says  "  Bring  me  powder," 
and  he  blows  up  the  neighboring  house,  then  the  next, 
and  then  the  next,  until  a  sufficient  gap  is  made  to  pre- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  1 1 5 

vent  the  spread  of  the  conflagration.  When  he  began, 
he  did  not  think  that  he  would  require  to  sacrifice  so 
much  :  and  so  it  is  with  us.  When  this  rebellion  com 
menced,  we  thought  to  put  it  down,  and  to  maintain,  at 
the  same  time,  the  rights  of  the  States ;  but,  when  the 
war  assumed  such  proportions  as  seemed  to  threaten  the 
destruction  of  the  nation  and  its  constitutional  Govern, 
ment,  it  became  a  question  whether  the  President  should 
put  in  practice  the  powers  he  possessed  of  saving  the 
Union  at  all  hazards.  Long  he  paused,  I  know;  for  I 
assisted  in  bombarding  him.  (Laughter  and  cheers.) 
For  months,  and  months,  and  months,  I  both  pleaded  and 
inveighed  against  the  dilatory  policy  at  Washington,  and 
at  last  the  President  issued  a  proclamation,  declaring  that 
the  rebellion  had  assumed  such  proportions,  that  for  the 
sake  of  saving  the  country,  he  intended  to  exercise  the 
power  he  possessed,  and  to  confiscate  the  total  "  prop 
erty"  of  the  South,  the  whole  of  the  slaves  being  in 
cluded,  for  the  sake  of  saving  the  Union  and  the  Consti 
tution.  But  some  men  speak  to  me,  and  say,  "  Oh,  I  am 
tired  of  waiting  ;  when  is  this  little  quarrel  of  yours  on 
the  other  side  to  be  settled  ?  "  (Laughter.)  A  little  quar 
rel — (laughter) — with  1200  miles  of  a  base  line — a  little 
quarrel  that  commenced  only  seventy-five  years  ago. 
You  ask  how  ?  The  smouldering  fire  that  by  some  means 
or  other  has  caught  a  rafter  between  the  ceilings  is  not 
known  of  at  first  ;  but  after  two  or  three  days  it  bursts 
out,  and  the  whole  building  is  consumed.  The  fire  did 


I  X6         HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

not  begin  when  it  became  visible  to  the  eyes ;  it  began 
some  time  before.  In  the  same  way  this  war  did  not  be 
gin  three  years  ago.  It  began  when  this  constitution  was 
adopted — a  constitution  for  liberty  with  a  policy  for  slav 
ery,  and  it  is  as  impossible  to  tell  when  it  will  come  to  a 
termination  as  it  is  to  foretell  the  conclusion  of  any  great 
matter  affecting  the  welfare  of  thirty  millions  of  people, 
contingent  partly  on  great  laws  and  partly  on  interfering 
politicians.  It  might  close  next  year ;  it  might  close  in 
three  years  ;  it  might  close  in  five.  We  have  lost  many 
sons,  we  have  spilled  much  blood.  This  is  the  opera 
tion  by  which  the  cancer  is  to  be  severed  from  our 
system;  the  operation  is  now  far  advanced,  and  woe 
be  to  the  man  who  interferes  with  it  before  the  last 
bit  of  the  virus  is  removed.  But,  let  me  say,  even  a 
servant  who  will  bear  a  blow,  cannot  bear  to  be 
beaten  and  preached  at  both  together.  If  you  insist 
on  groaning  over  the  tediousness  of  the  war,  you  must 
not  aid  to  prolong  it.  Either  do  not  ask  us  when  it  will 
end,  or  else  do  not  send  ships  and  guns  to  the  rebels  in 
the  South.  If  you  want  to  sympathize  with  us,  do  so ; 
and  if  you  must  assist  the  rebels,  do  so ;  but  do  not  at 
tempt  both  things  at  once.  I  thank  Earl  Russell  for  his 
speech  at  Blairgowrie.  It  is  a  speech  that  has  brought 
comfort  and  gladness  to  the  hearts  of  our  American 
friends.  A  friend  of  mine  in  New  York  has  written  to 
me,  stating  that  the  whole  feeling  there  has  been  changed 
since  the  intelligence  of  Earl  Russell's  speech.  We  do 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  !  \  j 

not  want  to  quarrel ;  we  do  not  want  animosity  between 
Great  Britain  and  America.  No  man  has  spoken  of 
Great  Britain  words  of  praise  and  blame  with  more  honest 
heart  than  I  have.  (Cheers  and  some  hisses.)  That 
man  is  not  your  friend  who  dares  not  speak  of  your  faults 
to  your  face.  The  man  that  is  your  friend  tells  you  when 
he  thinks  you  are  wrong;  and  whether  I  am  right  or 
wrong,  I  assert,  that  in  giving  moral  sympathy  largely  to 
the  South,  and  above  all,  in  allowing  the  infamous  traffic 
of  your  ports  with  the  rebels,  thus  strengthening  the 
hands  of  the  slave-holders, — and  that  without  public  re 
buke, — you  have  done  wrong.  I  have  said  this,  because, 
dear  as  your  country  is  to  us,  precious  as  were  the  lega 
cies  given  to  us  of  learning  and  religion,  and  proud  as  we 
have  been  for  years  past  to  think  of  our  ancestry  and 
common  relationship  to  you — yet  so  much  dearer  to  us 
than  kindred  is  the  cause  of  God,  that,  if  Great  Britain 
sets  herself  against  us,  we  shall  not  hesitate  one  moment 
on  her  account,  but  shall  fulfil  our  mission  !  Earl  Russell 
was,  however,  pleased  to  say  that  this  was  a  conflict  for 
territory  on  the  one  part,  and  for  independence  on  the  other. 
You  know  just  as  well  as  I,  that  the  North  has  been  ad 
verse  to  the  acquisition  of  territory.  It  was  the  South 
that  brought  in  Texas,  that  brought  in  the  whole  of  the 
Louisiana  tract  by  purchase ;  it  was  the  South  that  went 
to  war  with  Mexico,  and  added  New  Mexico,  and  the 
whole  of  California;  and  it  was  the  South  that  sent 
Walker,  the  filibusterer,  to  Cuba.  The  South  would  have 


!  j  g          HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  >S  SPEECHES 

territory.  It  is  not  the  North  that  has  been  avaricious  of 
land,  but  the  South  that  needed  the  land  for  the  exten 
sion  of  their  slave  system.  Now,  we  are  striving  for 
the  territory  that  belongs  to  the  Union.  Let  me  see 
that  man  who  dares  to  say  here  that  he  believes  in  the 
kind  of  patriotism  that  would  let  every  citizen  sit  still 
while  their  territory  was  dismembered,  and  never  raise 
a  hand  or  lift  a  sword  ?  If  that  is  your  idea  of  patriot 
ism,  it  is  not  mine.  I  have  taught  my  people,  and  I 
ha^e  practised  the  doctrine  myself  as  far  as  necessary, 
that  it  was  the  duty  of  every  Christian  to  defend  his 
house,  and  if  any  robber  broke  into  his  house,  that  he 
was  bound  to  resist,  and  recover  any  goods  that  might 
have  been  carried  off.  Now,  that  which  is  true  of  the 
householder,  I  declare  to  be  true  of  the  nation.  The 
love  of  country  means  this,  to  defend  every  part  and  par 
ticle  of  the  country  from  unjust  alienation.  It  amounts 
then  to  just  this,  that  we  are  trying  to  get  back  our  own  ; 
though  Lord  John  Russell — I  beg  his  pardon,  Earl  Rus 
sell — (laughter) — says  that  we  were  ambitious  of  territory ! 
Well,  here  come  two  men  before  a  Justice  of  the  Peace, 
the  one  with  the  other  by  the  coat.  The  one  says  :  "  I 
found  this  man  in  my  house  carrying  off  my  wife's  silks, 
finery,  and  jewels."  Suppose  the  Justice  to  remonstrate 
with  the  complainant,  and  reprimand  him  for  avarice, 
and  blandly  let  the  thief  go  without  a  word  !  What 
would  become  of  a  community  in  which  the  victim  of 
robbery  was  scolded  and  the  robber  set  free  ?  Now 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  !  JQ 

the  territory  in  question  was  paid  for  by  the  money  of  the 
Union,  and  we  swore  by  as  solemn  an  oath  as  people  can 
swear,  to  hold  it  for  the  good  of  the  nation.  Because  we 
are  striving  to  keep  our  oath,  I  do  not  see  how  that  can 
make  us  ambitious  of  territory.  On  the  other  side,  Earl 
Russell  says  the  South  are  contending  for  independence. 
Yes  they  are,  and  I  would  to  God  that  so  much  gallantry 
had  a  better  cause.  It  needs  but  that,  to  be  illustrious 
to  the  end  of  time.  (Cheers.)  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I 
am  proud  to  say,  that  we  have  not  in  that  Western  Conti 
nent  degenerated  from  your  British  blood.  There  is  high 
spirit  yet  in  America  just  as  much  as  there  is  here.  Yet, 
Southern  independence,  what  is  it  ?  When  they  seceded 
and  went  to  Montgomery  to  frame  a  Constitution,  what 
did  they  do  ?  They  made  one  or  two  little  alterations  in 
the  Constitution.  They  lengthened  the  term  of  the  Presi 
dency,  and  made  a  few  alterations  in  the  forms  of  proced 
ures  in  the  Congress ;  but  substantially  they  took  the 
same  Constitution  as  they  had  just  escaped  from.  The 
only  material  clause  added  was  the  one  that  made  SLAV 
ERY  PERPETUAL,  and  declared  it  to  be  illegal  to  undertake 
to  abolish  it.  What  then  is  Southern  independence  ?  It 
is  the  meteor  around  the  dark  body  of  slavery.  King 
Bomba  of  Naples  wanted  to  be  independent,  and  his  idea 
of  independence  was,  that  he  should  be  let  alone  whilst 
he  was  oppressing  his  subjects.  This  very  idea  of  inde 
pendence  has  been  the  same,  since  the  days  when  Nim- 
rod  hunted  men.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  This  is  the 


120          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

only  independence  the  South  is  fighting  for.  But  it  is 
said  that  the  North  is  just  as  bad  as  the  South  in  its 
hatred  for  the  negro.  At  one  time  I  admit  that  there 
was  a  prejudice  against  the  black  man,  arising  out  of  the 
political  condition  of  things  :  but  I  can  bear  witness  that 
this  prejudice  has  almost  entirely  passed  away,  in  so  far 
as  the  native  population  is  concerned.  I  shall  not  say 
who  are  the  bitterest  enemies  of  the  black  men  because 
you  would  hiss  me  if  I  did  so.  (Loud  cries  of  "  Speak 
out,"  and  a  voice,  "  The  Irishmen  " — another  voice,  "  The 
Irish  Roman  Catholics.")  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
Irish  have  a  strong  prejudice  against  the  negroes,  but  it 
arises  simply  from  this,  that  they  have  been  led  to  believe 
by  the  enemies  of  the  North,  that,  were  the  slaves  freed, 
they  would  dispute  the  field  of  labor  with  them ;  whereas 
everybody  who  knew  anything  of  their  disposition  could 
tell,  that,  were  they  freed,  the  Northern  negroes  would 
flock  to  the  South,  leaving  the  North  for  Northern  labor 
ers.  The  statement  has  been  made  that  the  Americans 
are  seeking  to  destroy  the  Anglo-Saxons  for  the  sake  of  a 
few  millions  of  negroes.  I  contend,  that,  although  the 
freedom  of  the  negroes  will  no  doubt  result  from  this  war, 
yet  we  are  fighting  for  the  good  of  all  mankind — black, 
white,  and  yellow — (laughter) — for  men  of  all  nations — to 
save  representative  government  and  universal  liberty.  It 
is  also  said  that  the  proclamation  by  the  President  was  not 
sincere — that  he  had  issued  it  merely  as  an  official,  and  that 
it  did  not  express  his  personal  convictions.  All  I  need  to 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  1 2 1 

reply,  is,  that  the  President,  whatever  his  own  feelings,  is 
bound  to  act  as  an  official  and  discharge  the  duties  of 
his  office.  He  is  bound  to  administer  the  Constitution  of 
the  country.  It  was  the  President  and  not  the  man  who 
spoke ;  and  it  was  the  country,  and  not  the  President, 
that  was  responsible  for  the  proclamation.  At  the  same 
time  I  affirm,  that  the  manner  in  which  all  these  procla 
mations  have  been  carried  out  is  a  sufficient  test  of  their 
sincerity.  The  President  was  very  loath  to  take  the  steps 
he  did  ;  but,  though  slow,  Abraham  Lincoln  was  sure.  A 
thousand  men  could  not  make  him  plant  his  foot  before 
he  was  ready ;  ten  thousand  could  not  move  it  after  he 
had  put  it  down.  (Cheers).  This  national  crisis  in  my 
own  country  is  a  spectacle  worthy  of  the  admiration  of 
the  world,  and  I  can  only  hope  that  when  next  the  Social 
Science  Congress  assembles,  this  great  conflict  will  have 
gone  so  far  towards  an  issue,  that  it  may  be  found  con 
sistent  with  duty  to  inaugurate  its  meeting  without  sneer 
ing  at  a  neighboring  nation.  I  have  a  closing  word  to 
speak.  It  is  our  duty  in  America,  by  every  means  in  our 
power,  to  avoid  all  cause  of  irritation  with  every  foreign 
nation,  and  with  the  English  nation  most  especially.  On 
your  side  it  is  your  duty  to  avoid  all  irritating  interference, 
and  all  speech  that  tends  to  irritate.  Brothers  should  be 
brothers  all  the  world  over,  and  you  are  of  our  blood,  and 
we  are  of  your  lineage.  May  that  day  be  far  distant  when 
Great  Britain  and  America  shall  turn  their  backs  on  each 
other,  and  seek  an  alliance  with  other  nations.  (Loud 


122          HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER  'S  SPEECHES 

cries  of  "Russia.")  The  day  is  coming  when  the  founda 
tions  of  the  earth  will  be  lifted  out  of  their  places ;  and 
there  are  two  nations  that  ought  to  be  found  shoulder  to 
shoulder  and  hand  in  hand  for  the  sake  of  Christianity 
and  universal  liberty,  and  these  nations  are  Great  Britain 
and  America.  (Loud  and  prolonged  cheering.) 

Dr.  ALEXANDER,  who  was  received  with  loud  ap 
plause,  said, — ladies  and  gentlemen,  the  resolution  which 
I  have  had  put  into  my  hands  is  the  following  : — "That 
this  meeting  most  earnestly  and  emphatically  protests 
against  American  slavery  in  all  its  ramifications,  as  a 
system  which  treats  immortal  and  redeemed  human  be 
ings  as  goods  and  chattels,  which  denies  them  the  rights 
of  marriage  and  of  home,  which  consigns  them  to  igno 
rance  of  the  first  rudiments  of  education,  and  exposes 
them  to  the  outrages  of  lust  and  passion ;  and  that  this 
meeting  is  therefore  of  opinion  that  it  should  be  totally 
abolished,  and,  further,  that  this  meeting,  rejoicing  in  the 
progress  which  has  already  been  made  in  America  towards 
this  end,  desires  to  encourage,  with  their  cordial  sympa 
thy,  the  earnest  abolitionists  in  that  country  in  the  noble 
efforts  they  are  making."  I  do  not  think  that  it  is  neces 
sary  that  I  should  offer  any  observations  in  support  of 
this  resolution.  After  the  magnificent  oration  to  which 
we  have  just  listened,  I  do  not  feel  myself  inclined  at  all 
to  intrude  in  the  way  of  speaking  upon  this  question,  and 
I  presume  the  meeting  is  not  all  inclined  to  hear  anything 
I  might  be  disposed  to  say.  I  do  not  think  the  motion 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  I  2  3 

which  has  been  put  into  my  hands  requires  very  much  to 
be  said  in  support  of  it.  I  think  it  is  exceedingly  mod 
erate,  rather  more  moderate  than  perhaps  I  should  have 
expressed  it,  had  it  been  in  my  own  words.  (Applause.) 
I  think  it  pledges  us  to  nothing  but  what  we  may  heartily 
agree  to — (loud  applause) — from  our  abhorrence  of  slav 
ery,  our  desire  to  see  that  feeling  acknowledged,  and  our 
sympathy  with  those  who  are  trying  to  abolish  it  in  Amer 
ica.  Some  may  perhaps  think  that  in  the  resolution  we 
might  directly  sympathize  with  the  Federals  in  their  strug 
gle,  but  that  might  probably  lead  to  a  division  in  the 
meeting.  I  would  venture  to  suggest  that  our  esteemed 
friend  has  gone  very  far  to  show  that  the  Northerners,  as 
such,  are  abolitionists.  Those  who  think  that  he  has 
made  out  that  point  might  interpret  the  latter  part  of  this 
resolution  to  mean  the  whole  of  the  Federals  as  a  body ; 
and  those  who  do  not  think  that  might  restrict  it  in  their 
own  minds  to  suit  their  views.  (Laughter.) 

Dr.  GEORGE  JOHNSTON  then  came  forward  amid 
loud  cheers,  and  said  :  It  is  not  necessary  that  I  should 
say  one  word  in  seconding  the  motion.  I  am  quite  satis 
fied  that  this  meeting  is  perfectly  unanimous  in  accepting 
the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  motion,  and  why,  there 
fore,  should  I  occupy  more  time.  Just  let  me  say  this  one 
word,  that  I  apprehend  that  the  magnificent  speech  of  our 
friend  Mr.  Beecher  Stowe — (loud  laughter) — I  mean  Mr. 
Ward  Beecher — has  removed  some  prejudices — has  given 
some  information  which,  if  rightly  used,  will  guide  us  to 


124    HENRY  WARD  HEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

the  same  conclusion  to  which  I  long  ago  came — viz.,  that 
the  North  is  banded  together  to  maintain  the  liberties  of 
mankind.  (Loud  applause.) 

A  show  of  hands  was  then  taken,  when  only  three  were 
held  up  against  the  resolution,  which  was  carried  amidst 
loud  and  prolonged  cheering. 

The  Rev.  DUNCAN  OGILVIE  said :  The  motion  I 
have  to  make  is  one  which  will  recommend  itself  to  every 
one,  in  consequence  of  what  has  been  manifested  as  Mr. 
Beecher  has  gone  on.  It  has  been  to  every  one  an  im 
mense  treat  to  hear  such  a  speech.  (Loud  applause.)  I 
felt  myself  warmed  exceedingly  by  it.  (Laughter.)  I  am 
quite  sure  that  the  sympathies  of  this  large  meeting  go 
with  Mr.  Beecher  in  a  large  measure,  and  that  you  are 
ready  to  say  Amen  to  every  word  almost,  if  not  entirely. 
I  am  ready  to  say  Amen  to  what  Dr.  Johnston  stated,  and 
I  think  the  meeting  is  ready  to  do  the  same.  What  I 
now  propose  is  that  we  give  a  hearty  vote  of  thanks  to 
Mr.  Beecher  for  coming,  at  very  much  inconvenience,  as 
I  know  he  has  done,  to  address  us  this  evening.  (Loud 
and  prolonged  applause.) 

Mr.  NELSON,  publisher,  rose  to  second  the  motion. 
He  said  :  I  have  been  requested  to  second  this  motion  of 
a  vote  of  thanks  to  Mr.  Beecher,  and  I  rise  to  do  it  with 
great  diffidence,  but  at  the  same  time  with  great  pleasure. 
It  is  unnecessary,  and  it  would  be  unbecoming  in  me,  to 
pay  any  personal  compliment  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher. 
The  truth  is  that,  in  listening  to  his  address  to-night, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  I2$ 

I  forgot  Mr.  Beecher  altogether  in  the  cause  of  which 
he  is  the  representative ;  and  I  dare  say  he  will 
think  that  the  best  compliment  I  can  pay  to  his 
eloquence.  In  thanking  him,  perhaps  you  \rill  allow 
me,  in  a  single  sentence,  to  bear  my  humble  but 
willing  testimony  to  what  I  have  seen  of  the  growth  of 
a  healthy  public  opinion  in  America  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  Ten  years  ago  I  happened  to  visit  the  United 
States ;  and  everywhere,  from  New  York  to  Missouri,  I 
had,  like  others  from  the  old  country,  to  defend  myself  as 
I  best  could  against  the  defenders  of  slavery.  Conversa 
tion  on  general  topics  was  sure  at  last  to  drift  into  this 
one  great  subject ;  but  all  is  changed  now.  A  few 
months  ago  I  paid  a  second  visit  to  the  United  States, 
and,  except  among  the  Copperheads,  I  can  bear  witness 
that  the  old  hostility  to  English  sentiment  against  slavery 
is  gone.  In  the  city  of  New  York  there  is  a  large  and 
influential  association,  known  as  the  American  Tract 
Society.  This  society  has  for  many  years  been  one  of 
the  battle-grounds  on  which  the  cause  of  freedom  has 

o 

been  fought.  Its  mutilation  of  the  works  of  English 
authors,  and  its  rigid  exclusion  from  its  publications  of 
everything  against  slavery,  resulted  a  few  years  ago  in 
the  formation  of  a  new  society  pledged  to  the  cause  of 
freedom.  When  I  state  that  proposals  have  been  made 
for  a  re-union  of  the  two  societies,  because  all  feel  free 
now  to  speak  out  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  you  may 
receive  it  as  pretty  strong  evidence  that  a  vast  change 


I26         HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

has  taken  place.  Yes,  Mr.  Chairman,  the  tide  of  public 
opinion  has  turned,  and  you  might  as  well  attempt  to 
chain  the  sea  as  arrest  its  progress.  In  this  country  we 
are  accustomed  to  talk  of  North  and  South,  as  if  in  these 
two  words  we  expressed  the  nature  of  this  terrible  civil 
war;  but,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  beg  leave  to  say  that  these 
two  words  express  only  one-half  the  truth.  There  are 
two  Norths  and  two  Souths.  There  is  that  North  which 
all  along  has  yielded  to  the  South,  and  strengthened 
the  hands  of  the  slave  power.  There  is  that  other  North 
who,  for  the  first  time,  have  the  reins  of  power  in  their 
hands,  and,  amidst  tremendous  difficulties,  are  fighting  the 
battle  of  freedom.  It  is  that  party,  represented  by  such 
men  as  Mr.  Beecher,  Charles  Sumner,  and  others,  who 
have  a  right  to  appeal  to  this  country  for  sympathy,  and 
who,  I  think,  are  entitled  to  get  it.  With  the  destruction 
of  slavery  there  will  be  no  South.  A  distinguished  noble 
man  in  this  country  some  time  ago  set  afloat  the  neat  but 
delusive  phrase  that  this  is  a  war  on  one  side  for  empire, 
on  the  other  for  independence.  Yes,  Mr.  Chairman,  and 
so  it  was.  The  Southern  leaders,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
struggle,  boasted  that  they  would  soon  have  their  flag 
floating  over  the  Capitol  at  Washington,  and  at  New  York 
and  Boston.  Was  not  that  a  struggle  for  empire  ?  On 
the  other  side,  was  it  not  a  struggle  for  independence 
when  for  the  first  time  we  saw  the  North  rising  up  against 
the  domination  of  the  South  ?  Last  December,  I  hap 
pened  to  land  in  New  York  soon  after  the  first  battle  of 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  127 

Fredericksburg,  the  darkest  hour  the  Xorth  has  known  in 
this  great  war  ;  but,  Mr.  Chairman,  allow  me  to  say  that 
th'ough  the  terrible  battle  of  Fredricksburg  was  a  defeat 
to  the  North,  it  was  the  greatest  victory  they  ever  gained. 
It  broke  the  Democratic  party  into  two — peace  Democrats 
and  war  Democrats.  The  government  was  stronger  after 
the  battle  of  Fredericksburg  than  before  it ;  and  so  has  it 
been  with  all  the  other  defeats  of  the  North.  I  believe 
that  among  native  Americans  there  is  every  desire  to 
cultivate  the  friendship  of  this  country,  and  that  the 
present  bitterness  of  feeling,  having  no  root  in  itself,  will 
soon  wither  away.  Mr.  Chairman,  we  must  not  forget 
that  there  are  also  two  Souths.  There  are  blacks  as  well 
as  whites.  Why  should  we  always  speak  as  if  the  whites 
alone  formed  the  South  ?  But  I  feel  that  I  have  already 
detained  you  too  long.  Before  I  sit  down  I  beg  to  ex 
press  the  belief  that,  with  the  destruction  of  slavery,  there 
will  be  no  South.  It  is  slavery  alone  that  has  formed  the 
Soyth.  The  din  and  smoke  of  battle  will,  ere  long, 
clear  away.  I  believe  that  the  present  bitter  feelings 
between  North  and  South  will  also  pass  away,  and  wo 
will  see  a  united  country,  with  the  fair  form  of  liberty 
wielding  the  sceptre  over  a  free  people. 

The  motion  was  carried  amid  loud  applause. 

The  Rev.  Mr.  CULLEN  moved  a  cordial  vote  of  thanks 
to  the  Chairman  ;  and 

The  Rev.  Dr.  THOMSON  concluded  the  proceedings 
with  prayer, 


1 28         HENR Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  IN  THE  PHILHARMONIC 
HALL,  LIVERPOOL,  OCTOBER  16,  1863. 

THE  Hall  was  crowded  in  every  part  by  an  audience 
drawn  together  by  the  announcement  that  the  Rev. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  the  celebrated  American  preacher 
and  philanthropist,  brother  of  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe,  would 
lecture  on  the  American  War  and  Emancipation.  Im 
mediately  the  doors  were  opened  the  hall  was  filled,  and 
the  aspect  of  the  audience  showed  that  the  proceedings 
were  anticipated  with  no  little  eagerness. 

On  the  entrance  of  Mr.  Beecher,  preceded  by  the  chair 
man,  a  vast  shout  of  mingled  welcome  and  disapprobation 
was  immediately  raised.  As  is  already  known  to  our 
readers,  placards  had  been  posted  throughout  the  town 
inciting  the  people  of  Liverpool  to  give  the  reverend 
lecturer  a  hostile  reception  ;  and  it  soon  became  evident 
that  a  small  but  determined  minority  of  the  meeting  were 
present  with  that  intention.  The  extent  to  which  their 
exertions,  which  were  sedulously  continued  throughout, 
interfered  with  the  proceedings,  will  be  perceived  by  the 
report. 

CHARLES  ROBERTSON,  Esq.,  on  rising  to  intro 
duce  the  lecturer,  was  received  with  loud  cheers  and 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  129 

hisses.  After  obtaining  silence  he  said  :  Ladies  and 
gentlemen,  we  are  met  here  to-night  to  hear  an  address 
from  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  (Cheers  and 
hisses.)  I  hope  gentlemen,  this  is  an  assembly  of 
Englishmen, — and  that  everybody  will  be  heard  with 
calmness  and  impartiality.  Well,  gentlemen,  we  are  met 
together  this  evening  to  receive  such  information  from 
Mr.  Beecher  as  he  has  it  in  his  power  to  communicate  to 
us  respecting  the  present  state  of  the  contest  now  going 
on  in  the  United  States  of  America,  and  its  bearing  on 
that  most  important  question  which  has  so  powerfully 
stirred  the  hearts  of  Englishmen,  the  question  of  the 
emancipation  of  the  negro  race.  I  need  not  say  to  you, 
gentlemen,  it  is  that  aspect  of  the  question  which  has 
induced  many  of  us  to  take  a  part  in  this  meeting.  It  is 
because  w«  believe  that  this  is  a  contest  which  has  a  most 
important  bearing  on  the  emancipation  of  the  negro  race, 
and  the  introduction,  to  a  larger  portion  of  the  population 
of  the  Southern  States,  of  those  rights  and  liberties  which, 
as  men,  they  ought  to  possess,  that  we  have  taken  a 
deep  interest  in  this  struggle,  believing  that  the  success 
of  the  Northern  States  will  lead  to  the  emancipation  of 
the  slave.  ("  No,  no,"  hisses  and  cheers.)  The  question 
of  emancipation  possesses  such  an  immense  interest  and 
importance,  that  we  are  prepared  to  give  a  free  expres 
sion  of  our  sympathy  and  support  to  this  movement. 
We,  in  common  with  all  our  fellow-countrymen,  deplore 
and  deprecate  the  bloodshed  and  miseries  which  this  war 
9 


1 3o 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 


has  occasioned.  I  think  there  is  no  man  among  us  who 
can  view  with  other  than  feelings  of  the  deepest  regret  the 
suffering  and  the  loss  which  it  has  occasioned  both  in  the 
country  where  the  war  is  being  waged  and  among  the 
European  communities.  But,  while  admitting  this  to  the 
fullest  extent,  I  say,  that  to  establish  the  great  principle 
of  liberty,  the  sacrifice  of  all  else  we  hold  dear  purchases 
that  liberty  cheaply.  Therefore,  while  we  do  regret  the 
misery  produced,  we  do  not  regret  the  great  issue  which 
we  believe  will  be  obtained  through  that  misery.  But, 
gentlemen,  we  take  this  side  not  only  in  sympathy  for  the 
North,  but  in  sympathy  for  the  South.  The  great  work 
of  negro  emancipation  is  to  benefit  the  inhabitants  of 
these  Southern  States  more  even  than  it  will  benefit  the 
North.  With  the  North  it  is  a  question  of  humanity ; 
with  the  South  it  is  a  question  of  progress,  liberty,  and  of 
all  that  can  contribute  to  elevate  and  promote  the  pros 
perity  of  a  state.  It  is  with  no  unfriendly  feelings  to  the 
South  that  I  say  these  things.  They  are  our  own  kins 
men  as  well  as  the  people  of  the  North.  We  have  ad 
mired  their  courage  and  unflinching  devotedness  to  what 
they  believe  a  right  cause.  (Applause.)  But  we  are 
equally  convinced  that  their  cause  is  wrong.  (Loud  cries 
of  "  No,  no.")  If  there  is  a  righteous  God  in  Heaven  we 
believe  that  cause  cannot  prosper.  (Renewed  interrup 
tion.)  The  chairman  concluded  by  asking  the  respectful 
attention  of  the  audience  to  Mr.  Beecher's  address, 
adding  that  that  gentleman  was  perfectly  prepared  tQ 


ENGLAND  /AT  i86j,  i  3 1 

answer  any  questions  that  might  be  addressed  to  him 
after  the  lecture,  provided  they  were  put  in  writing,  with 
the  name  of  the  writer  attached,  and  handed  up  to  him 
(the  chairman). 

The  Rev.  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  then  rose, 
and,  advancing  to  the  front  of  the  platform,  was  greeted 
with  mingled  cheers,  hisses,  and  groans.  A  considerable 
proportion  of  the  audience  stood  up,  waving  hats  and 
handkerchiefs,  and  cheering.  A  man  in  the  gallery  called 
for  "Three  cheers  for  the  Southern  States,"  which  created 
much  laughter  and  some  uproar.  Mr.  Beecher  proceeded 
to  say — "  Ladies  and  gentlemen,"  when  the  uproar  again 
commenced,  and  efforts  were  made  to  eject  one  noisy  in 
dividual  from  the  body  of  the  hall. 

The  CHAIRMAN  said:  A  fair  opportunity  will  be 
afforded  to  express  approval  or  dissent  at  the  close  of  the 
lecture,  but  if  any  one  interrupts  the  meeting  by  dis 
orderly  conduct,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  call  in  the  aid  of 
the  police.  (Cheers.) 

The  Rev.  Mr.  BEECHER  then  said  :  For  more  than 
twenty-five  years  .1  have  been  made  perfectly  familiar  with 
popular  assemblies  in  all  parts  of  my  country  except  the 
extreme  South.  There  has  not  for  the  whole  of  that  time 
been  a  single  day  of  my  life  when  it  would  have  been  safe 
for  me  to  go  south  of  Mason's  and  Dixon's  line  in  my 
own  country,  and  all  for  one  reason ;  my  solemn,  earnest, 
persistent  testimony  against  that  which  I  consider  to  be 
the  most  atrocious  thing  under  the  sun — the  system  of 


I32 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 


American  slavery  in  a  great  free  republic.  (Cheers.)  I 
have  passed  through  that  early  period,  when  right  of 
speech  was  denied  to  me.  Again  and  again  I  have 
attempted  to  address  audiences  that,  for  no  other  crime 
than  that  of  free  speech,  visited  me  with  all  manner  of 
contumelious  epithets  ;  and  now  since  I  have  been  in  Eng 
land,  although  I  have  met  with  greater  kindness  and 
courtesy  on  the  part  of  most  than  I  deserved,  yet,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  perceive  that  the  Southern  influence  pre 
vails  to  some  extent  in  England.  It  is  my  old  acquaint 
ance  ;  I  understand  it  perfectly — (laughter) — and  I  have 
always  held  it  to  be  an  unfailing  truth  that  where  a  man 
had  a  cause  thatjwould  bear  examination  he  was  perfectly 
willing  to  have  it  spoken  about.  (Applause.)  And  when 
in  Manchester  I  saw  those  huge  placards,  "  Who  is  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  ?  "—(laughter,  cries  of  "  Quite  right,"  and 
applause) — and  when  in  Liverpool  I  was  told  that  there 
were  those  blood-red  placards,  purporting  to  say  what 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  had  said,  and  calling  on  English 
men  to  suppress  free  speech — I  tell  you  what  I  thought. 
I  thought  simply  this — "  I  am  glad  of  it."  (Laughter.) 
Why  ?  Because  if  they  had  felt  perfectly  secure,  that  you 
are  the  ^minions  of  the  South  and  the  slaves  of  slavery, 
they  would  have  been  perfectly  still.  And,  therefore, 
when  I  saw  so  much  nervous  apprehension  that,  if  I  were 
permitted  to  speak — when  I  found  they  were  afraid  to 
have  me  speak — (hisses,  laughter,  and  "  No,  no  ") — when 
I  found  that  they  considered  my  speaking  damaging  to 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  r  3  3 

their  cause — (applause) — when  I  found  that  they  appealed 
from  facts  and  reasonings  to  mob  law,  I  said :  no  man 
need  tell  me  what  the  heart  and  secret  counsel  of  these 
men  are.  They  tremble  and  are  afraid.  (Applause, 
laughter,  hisses,  "  No,  no,"  and  a  voice  :  "  New  York 
mob.")  Now,  personally,  it  is  a  matter  of  very  little  con 
sequence  to  me  whether  I  speak  here  to-night  or  not. 
(Laughter  and  cheers.)  But,  one  thing  is  very  certain— 
if  you  do  permit  me  to  speak  here  to-night  you  will  hear 
very  plain  talking.  (Applause  and  hisses.)  You  will  not 
find  a  man — (interruption) — you  will  not  find  me  to  be  a 
man  that  dared  to  speak  about  Great  Britain  3000  miles 
off,  and  then  is  afraid  to  speak  to  Great  Britain  when 
he  stands  on  her  shores.  (Immense  applause  and  hisses.) 
And  if  I  do  not  mistake  the  tone  and  the  temper  of 
Englishmen,  they  had  rather  have  a  man  who  opposes 
them  in  a  manly  way — (applause  from  all  parts  of  the 
hall) — than  a  sneak  that  agrees  with  them  in  an  unmanly 
way.  (Applause  and  "  Bravo.")  Now,  if  I  can  carry  you 
with  me  by  sound  convictions,  I  shall  be  immensely  glad  ; 
but  if  I  cannot  carry  you  with  me  by  facts  and  sound 
arguments,  I  do  not  wish  you  to  go  with  me  at  all ;  and 
all  that  I  ask  is  simply  FAIR  PLAY.  (Applause,  and  a 
voice  :  "  You  shall  have  it,  too.")  Those  of  you  who  are 
kind  enough  to  wish  to  favor  my  speaking — and  you  will 
observe  that  my  voice  is  slightly  husky,  from  having 
spoken  almost  every  night  in  succession  for  some  time 
past — those  who  wish  to  hear  me  will  do  me  the  kindness 


1 34        tt&NR  Y  WARD  B&RCII&R 'J  S 

simply  to  sit  still,  and  to  keep  still ;  and  I  and  my  friends 
the  Secessionists  will  make  all  the  noise.  (Laughter.) 
There  are  two  dominant  races  in  modern  history — the 
Germanic  and  the  Romanic  races.  The  Germanic  races 
tend  to  personal  liberty,  to  a  sturdy  individualism,  to  civil 
and  to  political  liberty.  The  Romanic  race  tends  to  abso 
lutism  in  Government ;  it  is  clannish  ;  it  loves  chieftains,  it 
develops  a  people  that  crave  strong  ^and  showy  govern 
ments  to  support  and  plan  for  them.  The  Anglo-Saxon 
race  belongs  to  the  great  German  family,  and  is  a  fair  ex 
ponent  of  its  peculiarities.  The  Anglo-Saxon  carries  self- 
government  and  self-development  with  him  wherever  he 
goes.  He  has  popular  GOVERNMENT  and  popular  INDUS 
TRY;  for  the  effects  of  a  generous  civil  liberty  are  not 
seen  a  whit  more  plain  in  the  good  order,  in  the  intelli 
gence,  and  in  the  virtue  of  a  self-governing  people, 
than  in  their  amazing  enterprise  and  the  scope  and 
power  of  their  creative  industry.  The  power  to  create 
riches  is  just  as  much  a  part  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
virtues  as  the  power  to  create  good  order  and  social 
safety.  The  things  required  for  prosperous  labor, 
prosperous  manufactures,  and  prosperous  commerce 
are  three  :  First — liberty  ;  second,  liberty  ;  third,  liberty. 
Though  these  are  not  merely  the  same  liberty  as  I 
shall  show  you.  First,  there  must  be  liberty  to  follow 
those  laws  of  business,  which  experience  has  developed, 
without  imposts  or  restrictions,  or  governmental  intrusions. 
Business  simply  wants  to  be  let  alone.  Then,  secondly, 


AV  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  13$ 

there  must  be  liberty  to  distribute  and  exchange  products 
of  industry  in  any  market  without  burdensome  tariffs, 
without  imposts,  and  without  vexatious  regulations. 
There  must  be  these  two  liberties — liberty  to  create 
wealth,  as  the  makers  of  it  think  best  according  to  the 
light  and  experience  which  business  has  given  them ; 
and  then  liberty  to  distribute  what  they  have  created 
without  unnecessary  vexatious  burdens.  The  compre 
hensive  law  of  the  ideal  industrial  condition  of  the  world 
is  free  manufacture  and  free-trade.  (A  Voice  :  "  The 
Morrill  tariff."  Another  voice :  "  Monroe.")  I  have 
said  there  were  three  elements  of  liberty.  The  third  is 
the  necessity  of  an  intelligent  and  free  race  of  customers. 
There  must  be  freedom  among  producers  ;  there  must  be 
freedom  among  the  distributors  ;  there  must  be  freedom 
among  the  customers.  It  may  not  have  occurred  to  you 
that  it  makes  any  difference  what  one's  customers  are, 
but  it  does  in  all  regular  and  prolonged  business.  The 
condition  of  the  customer  determines  how  much  he  will 
buy,  determines  of  what  sort  he  will  buy.  Poor  and 

ignorant  people  buy  little  and  that  of  the  poorest  kind. 

-— *• 
The  richest  and  the  intelligent,  having  the  more  means  to 

buy,  buy  the  most,  and  always  buy  the  best.  Here,  then, 
are  the  three  liberties — liberty  of  the  producer;  liberty  of 
the  distributor ;  and  liberty  of  the  consumer.  The  first 
two  need  no  discussion,  they  have  been  long  thoroughly 
and  brilliantly  illustrated  by  the  political  economists  of 
Great  Britain,  and  by  her  eminent  statesmen ;  but  it 


1 36         BENR  y  WA  RD  13  EEC  HER  *S  SPEECHES 

seems  to  me  that  enough  attention  has  not  been  directed 
to  the  third;  and,    with  your  patience,    I   will   dwell   on 
that   for    a  moment,  before  proceeding  to    other   topics. 
It  is  a  necessity  of  every  manufacturing  and  commercial 
people  that  their  customers  should  be  very  wealthy  and 
intelligent.     Let   us   put  the  subject  before  you   in    the 
familiar  light  of  your  own   local  experience.     To  whom 
do  the  tradesmen  of  Liverpool  sell  the  most  goods  at  the 
highest  profit  ?     To  the  ignorant  and  poor,  or  to  the  ed 
ucated  and  prosperous  ?     (A  voice  :  "  To  the   Southern 
ers."     Laughter.)     The  poor  man  buys    simply   for    his 
body;  he  buys  food,  he  buys  clothing,   he  buys  fuel,  he 
buys    lodging.     His  rule   is   to   buy   the   least   and    the 
cheapest  that  he  can.     He  goes  to  the  store  as  seldom  as 
he  can, — he  brings  away  as  little  as  he  can, — and  he  buys 
for  the  least  he  can.     (Much  laughter.)     Poverty  is  not  a 
misfortune  to  the  poor  only,  who  suffer  it,  but  it  is  more 
or  less  a  misfortune  to  all  with  whom  he  deals.     On  the 
other  hand,  a  man  well  off, — how  is  it  with  him  ?     He 
buys  in  far  greater  quantity.     He  can  afford  to  do  it ;  he 
has  the  money  to  pay  for  it.     He  buys  in  far  greater  va 
riety,   because  he  seeks  to  gratify   not  merely   physical 
wants,  but  also  mental  wants.     He  buys  for  the  satisfac 
tion  of  sentiment  and  taste,  as  well  as  of  sense.     He  buys 
silk,  wool,  flax,  cotton ;  he  buys  all  metals — iron,   silver, 
gold,  platinum  ;  in  short  he  buys  for  all  necessities  and  of 
all  substances.     But   that  is  not  all.     He  buys  a  better 
quality  of  goods.     He  buys   richer   silks,    finer   cottons, 


/AT  ENGLAND  /AT  1863.  !  37 

higher  grained  wools.  Now,  a  rich  silk  means  so  much 
skill  and  care  of  somebody's  that  has  been  expended 
upon  it  to  make  it  finer  and  richer ;  and  so  of  cotton,  and 
so  of  wool.  That  is,  the  price  of  the  finer  goods  runs 
back  to  the  very  beginning,  and  remunerates  the  work 
man  as  well  as  the  merchant.  Now,  the  whole  laboring 
community  is  as  much  interested  and  profited  as  the  mere 
merchant,  in  this  buying  and  selling  of  the  higher  grades 
in  the  greater  varieties  and  quantities.  The  law  of  price 
is  the  skill ;  and  the  amount  of  skill  expended  in  the  work 
is  as  much  for  the  market  as  are  the  goods.  A  man 
comes  to  market  and  says,  "  I  have  a  pair  of  hands,"  and 
he  obtains  the  lowest  wages.  Another  man  comes  and 
says,  "  I  have  something  more  than  a  pair  of  hands ;  I 
have  truth  and  fidelity  ;  "  he  gets  a  higher  price.  Another 
man  comes  and  says,  "  I  have  something  more  ;  I  have 
hands,  and  strength,  and  fidelity,  and  skill."  He  gets 
more  than  either  of  the  others.  The  next  man  comes 
and  says,  "  I  have  got  hands,  and  strength,  and  skill,  and 
fidelity ;  but  my  hands  work  more  than  that.  They 
know  how  to  create  things  for  the  fancy,  for  the  affec 
tions,  for  the  moral  sentiments  ;  "  and  he  gets  more  than 
either  of  the  others.  The  last  man  comes  and  says,  "  I 
have  all  these  qualities,  and  have  them  so  highly  that  it 
is  a  peculiar  genius ;  "  and  genius  carries  the  whole 
market  and  gets  the  highest  price.  So  that  both  the 
workman  and  the  merchant  are  profited  by  having  pur 
chasers  that  demand  quality,  variety,  and  quantity. 


Now,  if  this  be  so  in  the  town  or  the  city,  it  can  only  be 
so  because  it  is  a  law.  This  is  the  specific  development 
of  a  general  or  universal  law,  and  therefore  we  should 
expect  to  find  it  as  true  of  a  nation  as  of  a  city  like  Liver 
pool.  I  know  it  is  so,  and  you  know  that  it  is  true  of  all 
the  world ;  and  it  is  just  as  important  to  have  customers 
educated,  intelligent,  moral,  and  rich  out  of  Liverpool  as 
it  is  in  Liverpool.  They  are  able  to  buy;  they  want 
variety,  they  want  the  very  best ;  and  those  are  the  cus 
tomers  you  want.  That  nation  is  the  best  customer  that 
is  freest,  because  freedom  works  prosperity,  industry  and 
wealth. 

Great  Britain,  then,  aside  from  moral  considerations, 
has  a  direct  commercial  and  pecuniary  interest  in  the 
liberty,  civilization,  and  wealth  of  every  people  and 
every  nation  on  the  globe.  You  have  also  an  interest  in 
this,  because  you  are  a  moral  and  a  religious  people. 
You  desire  it  from  the  highest  motives ;  and  godliness  is 
profitable  in  all  things,  having  the  promise  of  the  life 
that  is,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come ;  but  if  there 
were  no  hereafter,  and  if  man  had  no  progress  in  this 
life,  and  if  there  were  no  question  of  civilization  at  all, 
it  would  be  worth  your  while  to  protect  civilization  and 
liberty,  merely  as  a  commercial  speculation.  To  evan 
gelize  has  more  than  a  moral  and  religious  import — it 
comes  back  to  temporal  relations.  Wherever  a  nation 
that  is  crushed,  cramped,  degraded  under  despotism  is 
struggling  to  be  free,  you,  Leeds,  Sheffield,  Manchester, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^g 

Paisley,  all  have  an  interest  that  that  nation  should  be 
free.  When  depressed  and  backward  people  demand 
that  they  may  have  a  chance  to  rise — Hungary,  Italy, 
Poland — it  is  a  duty  for  humanity's  sake,  it  is  a  duty  for 
the  highest  moral  motives,  to  sympathize  with  them  ;  but 
beside  all  these  there  is  a  material  and  an  interested  rea 
son  why  you  should  sympathize  with  them.  Pounds  and 
pence  join  with  conscience  and  with  honor  in  this  design. 
Now,  Great  Britain's  chief  want  is — what  ?  They  have 
said  that  your  chief  want  is  cotton.  I  deny  it.  Your  chief 
want  is  consumers.  (Applause  and  hisses.)  You  have 
got  skill,  you  have  got  capital,  and  you  have  got  machin 
ery  enough  to  manufacture  goods  for  the  whole  popula 
tion  of  the  globe.  You  could  turn  out  fourfold  as  much 
as  you  do,  if  you  only  had  the  market  to  sell  in.  It  is 
not  so  much  the  want,  therefore,  of  fabric,  though  there 
may  be  a  temporary  obstruction  of  it ;  but  the  principal 
and  increasing  want — increasing  from  year  to  year — is, 
where  shall  we  find  men  to  buy  what  we  can  manufact 
ure  so  fast?  (Interruption,  and  a  voice,  "The  Morrill 
tariff,"  and  applause.)  Before  the  American  war  broke 
out,  your  warehouses  were  loaded  with  goods  that  you 
could  not  sell.  You  had  over-manufactured ;  what  is  the 
meaning  of  over-manufacturing  but  this,  that  you  had 
skill,  capital,  machinery,  to  create  faster  than-  you  had 
customers  to  take  goods  off  your  hands  ?  And  you 
know,  that,  rich  as  Great  Britain  is,  vast  as  are  her  manu 
factures,  if  she  could  have  fourfold  the  present  demand, 


140          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

she  could  make  fourfold  riches  to-morrow;  and  every 
political  economist  will  tell  you  that  your  want  is  not 
cotton  primarily,  but  customers.  Therefore,  the  doctrine, 
how  to  make  customers,  is  a  great  deal  more  important 
to  Great  Britain  than  the  doctrine  how  to  raise  cotton. 
It  is  to  that  doctrine  I  ask  from  you,  business  men, 
practical  men,  men  of  fact,  sagacious  Englishmen — to 
that  point  I  ask  a  moment's  attention.  (Shouts  of  "  Oh, 
oh,"  hisses,  and  applause.)  There  are  no  more  conti 
nents  to  be  discovered.  The  market  of  the  future  must 
be  found — how  ?  There  is  very  little  hope  of  any  more 
demand  being  created  by  new  fields.  If  you  are  to  have 
a  better  market  there  must  be  some  kind  of  process  in 
vented  to  make  the  old  fields  better.  (A  voice,  "  Tell  us 
something  new,"  shouts  of  "  Order,"  and  interruption.) 
Let  us  look  at  it,  then.  You  must  civilize  the  world  in 
order  to  make  a  better  class  of  purchasers.  If  you  were 
to  press  Italy  down  again  under  the  feet  of  despotism, 
Italy,  discouraged,  could  draw  but  very  few  supplies 
from  you.  But  give  her  liberty,  kindle  schools  through 
out  her  valleys,  spur  her  industry,  make  treaties  with  her 
by  which  she  can  exchange  her  wine,  and  her  oil,  and 
her  silk  for  your  manufactured  goods ;  and  for  every 
effort  that  you  make  in  that  direction  there  will  come 
back  profit  to  you  by  increased  traffic  with  her.  If  Hun 
gary  asks  to  be  an  unshackled  nation — if  by  freedom  she 
will  rise  in  virtue  and  intelligence,  then  by  freedom  she 
will  acquire  a  more  multifarious  industry,  which  she  will 


IN  ENGLA  XD  IX  1 863.  !  4  j 

be    willing    to   exchange    for   your   manufactures.       Her 
liberty  is  to  be  found — where  ?     You  will  find  it  in  the 
Word  of  God,  you  will  find  it  in  the  code  of  history ;  but 
you  will  also  find  it  in  the  Price  Current ;  and  every  free 
nation,  every   civilized    people — every   people   that    rises 
from  barbarism  to  industry  and  intelligence,  becomes  a 
better  customer.     A  savage   is  a  man  of  one  story,  and 
that    one    story  a    cellar.     When    the  man    begins  to    be 
civilized,  he  raises  another  story.     When  you  Christian 
ize    and    civilize  the  man,  you  put  story  upon  story,  for 
you  develop  faculty  after  faculty ;  and  you  have  to  supply 
every  story  with  your  productions.     The  savage  is  a  man 
one  story  deep  ;  the  civilized  man   is  thirty  stories  deep. 
Now,  if  you  go  to  a  lodging-house,  where  there  are  three 
or  four  men,  your  sales  to  them  may,  no  doubt,  be  worth 
something ;  but  if  you  go  to  a  lodging-house  like  some  of 
those  which  I  saw  in  Edinburgh,  which  seemed  to  con 
tain  about  twenty  stories — ("  oh,  oh,"  and  interruption) — 
every  story  of  which  is  full,  and  all  who  occupy  buy  of 
you — which  is  the  best  customer, — the  man  who  is  drawn 
out,  or  the  man  who    is  pinched  up  ?     (Laughter.)     Now, 
there  is   in  this  a  great  and    sound    principle  of   political 
economy.     ("  Yah  !  yah  !  "  from   the   passage  outside   the 
hall,  and  loud  laughter.)  If  the  South  should   be  rendered 
independent — (at    this    juncture    mingled    cheering  and 
hisses  became   immense  ;  half  the  audience   rose  to  their 
feet,  waving  hats  and  handkerchiefs,   and  in   every  part 
of  the  hall  there  was  the  greatest  commotion  and  uproar). 


142 


HENRY  WARD  BEECIIEK'S  SPEECHES 


You  have  had  your  turn  now  ;  now  let  me  have  mine 
again.  (Loud  applause  and  laughter.)  It  is  a  little  incon 
venient  to  talk  against  the  wind  ;  but,  after  all,  if  you 
will  just  keep  good-natured — I  am  not  going  to  lose  my 
temper  ;  will  you  watch  yours  ?  Besides  all  that, — it  rests 
me.,  and  'gives  me  a  chance,  you  know,  to  get  my  breath. 
(Applause  and  hisses.)  And  I  think  that  the  bark  of 
those  men  is  worse  than  their  bite.  They  do  not  mean 
any  harm — they  don't  know  any  better.  (Loud  laughter, 
applause,  hisses,  and  continued  uproar.)  I  was  saying, 
when  these  responses  broke  in,  that  it  was  worth  our 
while  to  consider  both  alternatives.  What  will  be  the 
result  if  this  present  struggle  shall  eventuate  in  the 
separation  of  America,  and  making  the  South— (loud  ap 
plause,  hisses,  hooting,  and  cries  of  "  Bravo  !  ") — a  slave 
territory  exclusively, — (cries  of  "  No,  no,"  and  laughter) 
— and  the  North  a  free  territory,  what  will  be  the  first 
result  ?  You  will  lay  the  foundation  for  carrying  the 
slave  population  clear  through  to  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
That  is  the  first  step.  There  is  not  a  man  that  has  been 
a  leader  of  the  South  any  time  within  these  twenty 
years,  that  has  not  had  this  for  a  plan.  It  was  for  this 
that  Texas  was  invaded,  first  by  colonists,  next  by  marau 
ders,  until  it  was  wrested  from  Mexico.  It  was  for  this 
that  they  engaged  in  the  Mexican  war  itself,  by  which 
the  vast  territory  reaching  to  the  Pacific  was  added  to 
the  Union.  Never  have  they  for  a  moment  given  up  the 
plan  of  spreading  the  American  institutions,  as  they  call 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^3 

them,  straight  through  towards  the  West,  until  the  slave, 
who  has  washed  his  feet  in  the  Atlantic,  shall  be  carried 
to  wash  them  in  the  Pacific.  (Cries  of  "  Question,"  and 
uproar.)  There  !  I  have  got  that  statement  out,  and 
you  cannot  put  it  back.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  Now, 
let  us  consider  the  prospect.  If  the  South  becomes  a 
slave  empire,  what  relation  will  it  have  to  you  as  a  custo 
mer?  (A  Voice:  "Or  any  other  man."  Laughter.)  It 
would  be  an  empire  of  12,000,000  of  people.  Now,  of 
these,  8,000,000  are  white  and  4,000,000  black.  (A 
Voice  :  "  How  many  have  you  got  ?  " — applause  and 
laughter.  Another  Voice  :  "  Free  your  own  slaves.") 
Consider  that  one-third  of  the  whole  are  the  miserably 
poor,  unbuying  blacks.  (Cries  of  "  No,  no,"  "  Yes,  yes," 
and  interruption.)  You  do  not  manufacture  much  for 
them.  (Hisses,  "  Oh  !  "  "  No.")  You  have  not  got 
machinery  coarse  enough.  (Laughter,  and  "  No.")  Your 
labor  is  too  skilled  by  far  to  manufacture  bagging  and 
linsey-woolsey.  (A  Southerner :  "  We  are  going  to  free 
them  every  one.")  Then  you  and  I  agree  exactly. 
(Laughter.)  One  other  third  consists  of  a  poor,  unskilled, 
degraded  white  population ;  and  the  remaining  one-third, 
which  is  a  large  allowance, -we  will  say,  intelligent  and 
rich.  Now  here  are  twelve  million  of  people,  and  only 
one-third  of  them  are  customers  that  can  afford  to  buy  the 
kind  of  goods  that  you  bring  to  market.  (Interruption 
and  uproar.)  My  friends,  I  saw  a  man  once,  who  was  a 
little  late  at  a  railway  station,  chase  an  express  train. 


144  WARD  BEECHER'S  SI'EECHES 

He  did  not  catch  it.  (Laughter.)  If  you  are  going  to 
stop  this" meeting,  you  have  got  to  stop  it  before  I  speak ; 
for  after  I  have  got  the  things  out,  you  may  chase  as  long 
as  you  please — you  would  not  catch  them.  (Laughter  and 
interruption.)  But  there  is  luck  in  leisure  ;  I'm  going  to 
take  it  easy.  (Laughter.)  Two-thirds  of  the  population 
of  the  Southern  States  to-day  are  non-purchasers  of  Eng 
lish  goods.  (A  Voice  :  "  No,  they  are  not,"  "  No,  no,"  and 
uproar.)  Now  you  must  recollect  another  fact — namely, 
that  this  is  going  on  clear  through  to  the  Pacific  Ocean ; 
and  if  by  sympathy  or  help  you  establish  a  slave  empire, 
you  sagacious  Britons — ("  Oh,  oh,"  and  hooting) — if  you 
like  it  better,  then,  I  will  leave  the  adjective  out — (laugh 
ter,  hear,  and  applause) — are  busy  in  favoring  the  estab 
lishment  of  an  empire  from  ocean  to  ocean  that  should 
have  fewest  customers  and  the  largest  non-buying  popu 
lation.  (Applause,  "  No,  no."  A  Voice  :  "  I  think  it  was 
the  happy  people  that  populated  fastest.")  Now,  for  in 
stance,  just  look  at  this,  the  difference  between  free  labor 
and  slave  labor  to  produce  cultivated  land.  The  State  of 
Virginia  has  15,000  more  square  miles  of  land  than  the 
State  of  New  York;  but  Virginia  has  only  15,000  square 
miles  improved,  while  New  York  has  20,000  square  miles 
improved.  Of  unimproved  land  Virginia  has  about  23,- 
ooo  square  miles,  and  New  York  only  about  10,000  square 
miles.  Now,  these  facts  speak  volumes  as  to  the  capacity 
of  the  territory  to  bear  population.  The  smaller  is 
the  quantity  of  soil  uncultivated,  the  greater  is  the  den- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  l^ 

sity  of  the  population — and  upon  that,  their  value  as  cus 
tomers  depends.  Let  us  take  the  States  of  Maryland  and 
Massachusetts.  Maryland  has  2000  more  square  miles 
of  land  than  Massachusetts ;  but  Maryland  has  about 
4000  square  miles  of  land  improved,  Massachusetts  has 
3200  square  miles.  Maryland  has  2800  unimproved 
square  miles  of  land,  while  Massachusetts  has  but  1800 
square  miles  unimproved.  But  these  two  are  little 
States, — let  us  take  greater  States.  Pennsylvania  and 
Georgia.  The  State  of  Georgia  has  12,000  more 
square  miles  of  land  than  Pennsylvania.  Georgia 
has  only  about  9800  square  miles  of  improved  land, 
Pennsylvania  has  13,400  square  miles  of  improved 
land,  or  about  2,300,000  acres  more  than  Georgia. 
Georgia  has  about  25,600  square  miles  of  unimproved 
land,  and  Pennsylvania  has  only  10,400  square  miles,  or 
about  10,000,000  acres  less  of  unimproved  land  than 
Georgia.  The  one  is  a  Slave  State  and  the  other  is  a 
Free  State.  I  do  not  want  you  to  forget  such  statistics  as 
those,  having  once  heard  them.  (Laughter.)  Now,  what 
can  England  make  for  the  poor  white  population  of  such 
a  future  empire,  and  for  her  slave  population  ?  What 
carpets,  what  linens,  what  cottons  can  you  sell  to  them  ? 
What  machines,  what  looking-glasses,  what  combs,  what 
leather,  what  books,  what  pictures,  what  engravings  ?  (A 
Voice  :  "  We'll  sell  them  ships.")  You  may  sell  ships  to 
a  few,  but  what  ships  can  you  sell  to  two-thirds  of  the  pop 
ulation  of  poor  whites  and  blacks  ?  A  little  bagging  and 
10 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER  'S  SPEECHES 

a  little  linsey-woolsey,  a  few  whips  and  manacles,  are  all 
that  you  can  sell  for  the  slave.  (Great  applause,  and 
uproar.)  This  very  day,  in  the  Slave  States  of  America 
there  are  eight  millions  out  of  twelve  millions  that  are 
not,  and  cannot  be  your  customers  from  the  very  laws  of 
trade.  (A  voice  :  "  Then  how  are  they  clothed  ?  "  and 
interruption.) 

The  CHAIRMAN  :  If  gentlemen  will  only  sit  down, 
those  who  are  making  the  disturbance  will  be  tired  out. 

Mr.  BEECHER  resumed:  There  are  some  apparent 
drawbacks  that  may  suggest  themselves.  The  first  is  that 
the  interests  of  England  consist  in  drawing  from  any 
country  its  raw  material.  (A  voice  :  "  We  have  got  over 
that.")  There  is  an  interest,  but  it  is  not  the  interest  of 
England.  The  interest  of  England  is  not  merely  where 
to  buy  her  cotton,  her  ores,  her  wool,  her  linens,  and  her 
flax.  When  she  has  put  her  brains  into  the  cotton,  and 
into  the  linen  and  flax,  and  it  becomes  the  product  of  her 
looms,  a  far  more  important  question  is,  "What  can  be 
done  with  it  ? "  England  does  not  want  merely  to  pay 
prices  for  that  which  brute  labor  produces,  but  to  get  a 
price  for  that  which  brain  labor  produces.  Your  interest 
lies  beyond  all  peradventure  ;  therefore,  if  you  should 
bring  ever  so  much  cotton  from  the  slave  empire,  you  can 
not  sell  back  again  to  the  slave  empire.  (A  voice:  "Go 
on  with  your  subject ;  we  know  all  about  England.") 
Excuse  me,  sir,  I  am  the  speaker,  not  you ;  and  it  is  for 
me  to  determine  what  to  say.  Do  you  suppose  I  am 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  147 

going  to  speak  about  America  except  to  convince  English 
men  ?  I  am  here  to  talk  to  you  for  the  sake  of  ultimately 
carrying  you  with  me  in  judgment  and  in  thinking — and, 
as  to  this  logic  of  cat-calls,  it  is  slavery  logic, — I  am  used 
to  it.  (Applause,  hisses,  and  cheers.)  Now,  it  is  said 
that  if  the  South  should  be  allowed  to  be  separate  there 
will  be  no  tariff,  and  England  can  trade  with  her ;  but  if 
the  South  remain  in  the  United  States,  it  will  be  bound 
by  a  tariff,  and  English  goods  will  be  excluded  from  it. 
Now,  I  am  not  going  to  shirk  any  question  of  that  kind. 
In  the  first  place,  let  me  tell  you  that  the  first  tariff  ever 
proposed  in  America  was  not  only  supported  by  Southern 
interests  and  votes,  but  was  originated  by  the  peculiar 
structure  of  Southern  society.  The  first  and  chief  diffi 
culty — after  the  Union  was  formed  under  our  present  con 
stitution — the  first  difficulty  that  met  our  fathers  was,  how 
to  raise  taxes  to  support  the  government ;  and  the  ques 
tion  of  representation  and  taxes  went  together ;  and  the 
difficulty  was,  whether  we  should  tax  the  North  and  South 
alike,  man  for  man  per  caput,  counting  the  slaves  with 
whites.  The  North  having  fewer  slaves  in  comparison 
with  the  number  of  its  whites ;  the  South,  which  had  a 
larger  number  of  blacks,  said,  "  We  shall  be  over-taxed 
if  this  system  be  adopted."  They  therefore  proposed 
that  taxes  and  representation  should  be  on  the 
basis  of  five  black  men  counting  as  three  white  men. 
In  a  short  time  it  was  found  impossible  to  raise 
these  taxes  in  the  South,  and  then  they  cast  about  for  a 


148 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 


better  way,  and  the  tariff  scheme  was  submitted.  The 
object  was  to  raise,  the  revenue  from  the  ports  instead  of 
from  the  people.  The  tariff  therefore  had  its  origin  in 
Southern  weaknesses  and  necessities,  and  not  in  the 
Northern  cities.  Daniel  Webster's  first  speech  was 
against  it ;  but  after  that  was  carried  by  Southern  votes 
(which  for  more  than  fifty  years  determined  the  law  of 
the  country),  New  England  accepted  it,  and  saying,  "  It 
is  the  law  of  the  land,"  conformed  her  industry  to  it ; 
and  when  she  had  got  her  capital  embarked  in  mills  and 
machinery,  she  became  in  favor  of  it.  But  the  South, 
beginning  to  feel,  as  she  grew  stronger,  that  it  was 
against  her  interest  to  continue  the  system,  sought  to 
have  the  tariff  modified,  and  brought  it  down  ;  though 
Henry  Clay,  a  Southern  man  himself,  was  the  immortal 
champion  of  the  tariff.  All  his  lifetime  he  was  for 
a  high  tariff,  till  such  a  tariff  could  no  longer  stand ;  and 
then  he  was  for  moderating  the  tariffs.  And  there  has 
not  been  for  the  whole  of  the  fifty  years  a  single  hour 
when  any  tariff  could  be  passed  without  them.  The 
opinion  of  the  whole  of  America  was,  tariff,  high  tariff. 
I  do  not  mean  that  there  were  none  that  dissented  from 
that  opinion,  but  it  was  the  popular  and  prevalent  cry.  I 
have  lived  to  see  the  time  when,  just  before  the  war  broke 
out,  it  might  be  said  that  the  thinking  men  of  America 
were  ready  for  free-trade.  There  has  been  a  steady  prog 
ress  throughout  America  for  free-trade  ideas.  How  came 
this  Morrill  tariff  ?  The  Democratic  administration, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

inspired  by  Southern  counsels,  left  millions  of  millions  of 
unpaid  debt  to  cramp  the  incoming  of  Lincoln  ;  and  the 
Government,  betrayed  to  the  Southern  States,  found  it 
self  unable  to  pay  those  debts,  unable  to  build  a  single 
ship,  unable  to  raise  an  army  ;  and  it  was  the  exigency, 
the  necessity,  that  forced  them  to  adopt  the  Morrill  tariff, 
in  order  to  raise  the  money  which  they  required.  It  was 
the  South  that  obliged  the  North  to  put  the  tariff  on. 
Just  as  soon  as  we  begin  to  have  peace  again,  and  can 
get  our  national  debt  into  a  proper  shape  as  you  have 
got  yours — (laughter) — the  same  cause  that  worked  be 
fore  will  begin  to  work  again  ;  and  there  is  nothing  more 
certain  in  the  future  than  that  the  American  is  bound  to 
join  with  Great  Britain  in  the  world-wide  doctrine  of  free- 
trade.  (Applause  and  interruption.)  Here  then,  so  far 
as  this  argument  is  concerned,  I  rest  my  case,  saying 
that  it  seems  to  me  that  in  an  argument  addressed  to  a 
commercial  people  it  was  perfectly  fair  to  represent  that 
their  commercial  and  manufacturing  interests  tallied  with 
their  moral  sentiments ;  and  as  by  birth,  by  blood,  by 
history,  by  moral  feeling,  and  by  everything,  Great 
Britain  is  connected  with  the  liberty  of  the  world,  God 
has  joined  interest  and  conscience,  head  and  heart ;  so 
that  you  ought  to  be  in  favor  of  liberty  everywhere. 
There  !  I  have  got  quite  a  speech  out  already,  if  I  do 
not  get  any  more.  (Hisses  and  applause.)  Now  then, 
leaving  this  for  a  time,  let  me  turn  to  some  other  nearly 
connected  topics.  It  is  said  that  the  South  is  fighting  for 


1 50         HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

just  that  independence  of  which  I  have  been  speaking. 
The  South  is  divided  on  that  subject.  ("No,  no.") 
There  are  twelve  millions  in  the  South.  Four  millions  of 
them  are  asking  for  their  liberty.  ("No,  no,"  hisses, 
"  Yes,"  applause,  and  interruption.)  Four  millions  are 
asking  for  their  liberty.  (Continued  interruption,  and 
renewed  applause.)  Eight  millions  are  banded  together 
to  prevent  it.  ("  No,  no,"  hisses,  and  applause.)  That 
is  what  they  asked  the  world  to  recognize  as  a  strike  for 
independence.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.)  Eight 
million  white  men  fighting  to  prevent  the  liberty  of  four 
million  black  men,  challenging  the  world.  (Uproar, 
hisses,  applause,  and  continued  interruption.)  You  can 
not  get  over  the  fact.  There  it  is  ;  like  iron,  you  cannot 
stir  it.  (Uproar.)  They  went  out  of  the  Union  because 
slave  property  was  not  recognized  in  it.  There  were  two 
ways  of  reaching  slave  property  in  the  Union  :  the  one 
by  exerting  the  direct  Federal  authority  :  but  they  could 
not  do  that,  for  they  conceived  it  to  be  forbidden.  The 
second  was  by  indirect  influence.  If  you  put  a  candle 
under  a  bowl  it  will  burn  so  long  as  the  fresh  air  lasts, 
but  it  will  go  out  as  soon  as  the  oxygen  is  exhausted  ; 
and  so,  if  you  put  slavery  into  a  State  where  it  cannot  get 
more  States,  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  how  long  it  will 
live.  By  limiting  slave  territory  you  lay  the  foundation 
for  the  final  extinction  of  slavery.  Gardeners  say  that 
the  reason  why  crops  will  not  grow  in  the  same  ground 
for  a  long  time  together,  is  that  the  roots  excrete  poisoned 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  j  -  i 

matter  which  the  plants  cannot  use,  and  thus  poison 
the  grain.  Whether  this  is  true  of  crops  or  not,  it  is 
certainly  true  of  slavery,  for  slavery  poisons  the  land  on 
which  it  grows.  Look  at  the  old  slave  States,  Delaware, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  even  at 
the  newer  State  of  Missouri.  What  is  the  condition  of 
slavery  in  those  States  ?  It  is  not  worth  one  cent  except 
to  breed.  It  is  not  worth  one  cent  so  far  as  productive 
energy  goes.  They  cannot  make  money  by  their  slaves 
in  those  States.  The  first  reason  with  them  for  main 
taining  slavery  is,  because  it  gives  political  power;  and 
the  second,  because  they  breed  for  the  Southern  market. 
I  do  not  stand  on  my  own  testimony  alone.  The  editor 
of  the  Virginia  Times,  in  the  year  1836,  made  a  calcula 
tion  that  120,000  slaves  were  sent  out  of  the  State  during 
that  year ;  80,000  of  which  went  with  their  owners,  and 
40,000  were  sold  at  the  average  price  of  600  dollars, 
amounting  to  24,000,000  dollars  in  one  year  out  of  the 
State  of  Virginia.  Now,  what  does  Henry  Clay,  himself 
a  slave-owner,  say  about  Kentucky  ?  In  a  speech  before 
the  Colonization  Society,  he  said  :  "  It  is  believed  that 
nowhere  in  the  farming  portion  of  the  United  States 
would  slave  labor  be  generally  employed,  if  the  proprie 
tary  were  not  compelled  to  raise  slaves  by  the  high  price 
of  the  Southern  market,"  and  the  [only  profit  of  slave 
property  in  Northern  farming  slave  States  is  the  value 
they  bring.  (A  voice:  "Then^if  the  Northerners  breed 
to  supply  the  South,  what's  the  difference  ?  ")  So  that 


152       HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

if  you  were  to  limit  slavery,  and  to  say,  it  shall  go 
so  far  and  no  further,  it  would  be  only  a  question  of 
time  when  it  should  die  of  its  own  intrinsic  weakness 
and  disease.  Now,  this  was  the  Northern  feeling. 
The  North  was  true  to  the  doctrine  of  constitu 
tional  rights.  The  North  refused,  by  any  Federal 
action  within  the  States,  to  violate  the  compacts  of  the 
constitution,  and  left  local  compacts  unimpaired  ;  but 
the  North,  feeling  herself  unbound  with  regard  to  what 
we  call  the  territories, — free  land  which  has  not  yet  State 
rights, — said  there  should  be  no  more  territory  cursed 
with  slavery.  With  unerring  instinct  the  South  said,  "  The 
Government  administered  by  Northern  men  on  the  princi 
ple  that  there  shall  be  no  more  slave  territory,  is  a  Gov 
ernment  fatal  to  slavery,"  and  it  was  on  that  account  that 
they  seceded — ("  No,  no,"  "  Yes,  yes,"  applause,  hisses, 
and  uproar) — and  the  first  step  which  they  took  when  they 
assembled  at  Montgomery,  was,  to  adopt  a  constitution. 
What  constitution  did  they  adopt  ?  The  same  form  of  con 
stitution  which  they  had  just  abandoned.  What  changes 
did  they  introduce  ?  A  trifling  change  about  the  Presi 
dential  term,  making  it  two  years  longer  ;  a  slight  change 
about  some  doctrine  of  legislation,  involving  no  principle 
whatever,  but  merely  a  question  of  policy.  But  by  the 
constitution  of  Montgomery  they  legalized  slavery ;  and 
made  it  the  organic  law  of  the  land.  The  very  constitu 
tion  which  they  said  they^  could  not  live  under  when  they 
left  the  Union  they  took  again  immediately  afterwards, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1 863.  1 5  3 

only  altering  it  in  one  point,  and  that  was,  making  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land  to  be  slavery.  Let  no  man 
undertake  to  say  in  the  face  of  intelligence — let  no  man 
undertake  to  delude  an  honest  community,  by  saying  that 
slavery  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  Secession.  Slavery  is 
the  framework  of  the  South  ;  it  is  the  root  and  the  branch 
of  this  conflict  with  the  South.  Take  away  slavery  from 
the  South,  and  she  would  not  differ  from  us  in  any  re 
spect.  There  is  not  a  single  antagonistic  interest.  There 
is  no  difference  of  race,  no  difference  of  language,  no 
difference  of  law,  no  difference  of  constitution  ;  the  only 
difference  between  us  is,  that  free  labor  is  in  the  North, 
and  slave  labor  is  in  the  South.  (Loud  applause.)  But  I 
know  that  you  say,  you  cannot  help  sympathizing  with  a 
gallant  people.  They  are  the  weaker  people,  the  minor 
ity  ;  and  you  cannot  help  going  with  the  minority  who 
are  struggling  for  their  rights  against  the  majority.  Noth 
ing  could  be  more  generous,  when  a  weak  party  stands 
for  its  own  legitimate  rights  against  imperious  pride  and 
power,  than  to  sympathize  with  the  weak.  But  who 
ever  yet  sympathized  with  a  weak  thief,  because  three 
constables  had  got  hold  of  him  ?  And  yet  the  one  thief 
in  three  policemen's  hands  is  the  weaker  party.  I  sup 
pose  you  would  sympathize  with  him.  (Laughter,  and 
applause.)  Why,  whep  that  infamous  king  of  Naples — 
Bomba,  was  driven  into  Gaeta  by  Garibaldi  with  his  im 
mortal  band  of  patriots,  and  Cayour  sent  against  him  the 
army  of  Northern  Italy,  who  was  the  weaker  party  then  ? 


154 


HENRY  WAR&  BEECHER  ^s  SPEECHES 


The  tyrant  and  his  minions  ;  and  the  majority  was  with 
the  noble  Italian  patriots,  struggling  for  liberty.  I  never 
heard  that  Old  England  sent  deputations  to  King  Bomba, 
and  yet  his  troops  resisted  bravely  there.  (Laughter  and 
interruption.)  To-day  the  majority  of  the  people  of 
Rome  is  with  Italy.  Nothing  but  French  bayonets  keeps 
her  from  going  back  to  the  kingdom  of  Italy,  to  which 
she  belongs.  Do  you  sympathize  with  the  minority  in 
Rome  or  the  majority  in  Italy  ?  (A  voice  :  "  With 
Italy.")  To-day  the  South  is  the  minority  in  America, 
and  they  are  righting  for  independence !  For  what  ? 
(Uproar.  A  voice:  "  Three  cheers  for  independence," 
and  hisses.)  I  could  wish  so  much  bravery  had  had  a 
better  cause,  and  that  so  much  self-denial  had  been  less 
deluded  ;  that  that  poisonous  and  venomous  doctrine  of 
State  rights  might  have  been  kept  aloof  ;  that  so  many 
gallant  spirits,  such  as  Jackson,  might  still  have  lived. 
(Great  applause  and  loud  cheers,  again  and  again  re 
newed.)  The  force  of  these  facts,  historical  and  incon 
trovertible,  cannot  be  broken,  except  by  diverting  atten 
tion  by  an  attack  upon  the  North.  It  is  said  that  the 
North  is  fighting  for  union,  and  not  for  emancipation. 
The  North  is  fighting  for  union,  for  that  insures  emanci 
pation.  A  great  many  men  say  to  ministers  of  the  Gos 
pel — "  You  pretend  to  be  preaching  and  working  for  the 
love  of  the  people.  Why,  you  are  all  the  time  preaching 
for  the  sake  of  the  church."  What  does  the  minister  say  ? 
"  It  is  by  means  of  the  church  that  we  help  the  people," 


IN  EXGLAXD  IX  1863.  155 

and  when  men  say  that  we  are  fighting  for  the  Union,  I 
too  say  we  are  fighting  for  the  Union.  But  the  motive 
determines  the  value  ;  and  why  are  we  fighting  for  the 
Union  ?  Because  we  never  shall  forget  the  testimony  of 
our  enemies.  They  have  gone  off  declaring  that  the 
Union  in  the  hands  of  the  North  wras  fatal  to  slavery. 
There  is  testimony  in  court  for  you.  (A  voice  :  "  See 
that,"  and  laughter.)  W«  are  fighting  for  the  Union,  be 
cause  we  believe  that  preamble  which  explains  the  very 
reason  for  which  the  Union  was  constituted.  I  will  read 
it.  "We"— not  the  States— "  WE,  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  NATION"- 
(uproar) — I  don't  wonder  you  don't  want  to  hear  it — 
(laughter) — "  in  order  to  form  a  more  perfect  NATION, 
establish  justice,  assure  domestic  tranquillity — (uproar) 
—provide  for  the  common  defence,  promote  the  general 
welfare,  and  secure  the  blessings  of  LIBERTY — ("  oh,  oh  ") 
— to  ourselves  and  our  posterity,  ordain  and  establish 
this -constitution  of  the  United  States  of  America." 
(A  voice  :  "  How  many  States  ?  ")  It  is  for  the  sake  of 
that  justice,  that  common  welfare,  and  that  liberty  for 
which  the  National  Union  was  established,  that  we  fight 
for  the  Union.  (Interruption.)  Because  the  South  be 
lieved  that  the  Union  was  against  slavery,  they  left  it. 
(Renewed  interruption.)  Yes.  (Applause,  and  "  No, 
no.")  To-day,  however,  if  the  North  believed  that 
the  Union  was  against  liberty,  they  would  leave  it. 
("  Oh,  oh,"  and  great  disturbance.)  Gentlemen,  I  have 


156 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


travelled  in  the  West  ten  or  twelve  hours  at  a  time  in  the 
mud  knee-deep.  It  was  hard  toiling  my  way,  but  I 
always  got  through  my  journey.  I  feel  to-night  as  though  I 
were  travelling  over  a  very  muddy  road  ;  but  I  think  I  shall 
get  through.  (Cheers.)  Well,  next  it  is  said,  that  the  North 
treats  the  negro  race  worse  than  the  South.  (Applause, 
cries  of  "  Bravo  !  "  and  uproar.)  Now,  you  see  I  don't 
fear  any  of  these  disagreeable  arguments.  I  am  going  to 
face  everyone  of  them.  In  the  first  place  lam  ashamed 
to  confess  that  such  was  the  thoughtlessness — (interrup 
tion) — such  was  the  stupor  of  the  North — (renewed  in 
terruption) — you  will  get  a  word  at  a  time  ;  to-morrow  will 
let  folks  see  what  it  is  you  don't  want  to  hear — that  for  a 
period  of  twenty-five  years  she  went  to  sleep,  and  per 
mitted  herself  to  be  drugged  and  poisoned  with  the 
Southern  prejudice  against  black  men.  The  evil  was 
made  worse,  because,  when  any  object  whatever  has 
caused  anger  between  political  parties,  a  political 
animosity  arises  against  that  object,  no  matter  how  inno 
cent  in  itself ;  no  matter  what  were  the  original  influences 
which  excited  the  quarrel.  Thus  the  colored  man  has 
been  the  football  between  the  two  parties  in  the  North, 
and  has  suffered  accordingly.  I  confess  it  to  my  shame. 
But  I  am  speaking  now  on  my  own  ground,  for  I  began 
twenty-five  years  ago,  with  a  small  party,  to  combat  the 
unjust  dislike  of  the  colored  man.  ('Loud  applause,  dis 
sension,  and  uproar.  The  interruption  at  this  point 
became  so  violent  that  the  friends  of  Mr.  Beecher  through- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  186" 


157 


out  the  hall  rose  to  their  feet,  waving  hats  and  hand 
kerchiefs,  and  renewing  their  shouts  of  applause.  The 
interruption  lasted  some  minutes.)  Well,  I  have  lived 
to  see  a  total  revolution  in  the  Northern  feeling — I  stand 
here  to  bear  solemn  witness  of  that.  It  is  not  my  opinion  ; 
it  is  my  knowledge.  (Great  uproar.)  Those  men  who 
undertook  to  stand  up  for  the  rights  of  all  men — black 
as  well  as  white — have  increased  in  number  ;  and  now 
what  party  in  the  North  represents  those  men  that  resist 
the  evil  prejudices  of  past  years  ?  The  Republicans  are 
that  party.  (Loud  applause.)  And  who  are  those  men 
in  the  North  that  have  oppressed  the  negro  ?  They  are 
the  Peace  Democrats ;  and  the  prejudice  for  which  in  Eng 
land  you  are  attempting  to  punish  me,  is  a  prejudice  raised 
by  the  men  who  have  opposed  me  all  my  life.  These  pro- 
slavery  democrats  abused  the  negro.  I  defended  him, 
and  they  mobbed  me  for  doing  it.  Oh,  justice  !  (Loud 
laughter,  applause,  and  hisses.)  This  is  as  if  a  man 
should  commit  an  assault,  maim  and  wound  a  neighbor, 
and  a  surgeon  being  calle^  in  should  begin  to  dress  his 
wounds,  and  by-and-by  a  policeman  should  come  and 
collar  the  surgeon  and  haul  him  off  to  prison  on  ac 
count  of  the  wounds  which  he  was  healing.  Now,  I  told 
you  I  would  not  flinch  from  anything.  I  am  going  to 
read  you  some  questions  that  were  sent  after  me  from 
Glasgow,  purporting  to  be  from  a  working  man.  (Great 
interruption.)  If  those  pro-slavery  interrupters  think 
they  will  tire  me  out,  they  will  do  more  than  eight 


I  5  8          HENR  Y  WA  RD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

millions  in  America  could.  (Applause  and  renewed  in 
terruption.)  I  was  reading  a  question  on  your  side,  too- 
"  Is  it  not  a  fact  that  in  most  of  the  Northern  States 
laws  exist  precluding  negroes  from  equal  civil  and  politi 
cal  rights  with  the  whites  ?  That  in  the  State  of  New 
York  the  negro  has  to  be  the  possessor  of  at  least  two 
hundred  and  fifty  dollars'  worth  of  property  to  entitle  him 
to  the  privileges  of  a  white  citizen  ?  That  in  some  of 
the  Northern  States  the  colored  man,  whether  bond  or 
free,  is  by  law  excluded  altogether,  and  not  suffered  to 
enter  the  State  limits,  under  severe  penalties;  and  is  not 
Mr.  Lincoln's  own  State  one  of  them  ;  and  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  $20,000,000  compensation  which  was 
promised  to  Missouri  in  aid  of  emancipation  was  defeated 
in  the  last  Congress  (the  strongest  Republican  Congress 
that  ever  assembled),  what  has  the  North  clone  towards 
emancipation  ?  "  Now  then,  there's  a  dose  for  you.  (A 
voice  :  "  Answer  it.")  And  I  will  address  myself  to  the 
answering  of  it.  And  first,  the  bill  for  emancipation  in 
Missouri,  to  which  this  money  was  denied,  was  a  bill 
which  was  drawn  by  what  we  call  "  log  rollers,"  who  in 
serted  in  it  an  enormously  disproportioned  price  for  the 
slaves.  The  Republicans  offered  to  give  them  $10,000,- 
ooo  for  the  slaves  in  Missouri,  and  they  outvoted  it  be 
cause  they  could  not  get  $ISL,OOO,OOO.  Already  half  the 
slave  population  had  been  "  run  "  down  South,  and  yet 
they  came  up  to  Congress  to  get  $12,000,000  for  what  was 
not  worth  ten  millions,  nor  even  eight  millions.  Now  as 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  !  ^ 

to  those  States  that  had  passed  "  black  "  laws,  as  we  call 
them ;    they   are  filled   with  Southern    emigrants.      The 
southern  parts  of   Ohio,    the    southern    part    of    Indiana, 
where  I  myself  lived  for  years,  and  which  I  knew  like  a 
book,  the  southern  part  of  Illinois  where  Mr.  Lincoln  lives 
— (great    uproar)— these  parts  are  largely  settled    by  emi 
grants   from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Georgia,  Virginia  and 
North  Carolina,  and   it  was    their  vote,  or  the  Northern 
votes  pandering  for  political  reasons  to  theirs,  that  passed 
in  those  States  the  infamous  "  black  "  laws ;  and  the  Re 
publicans  in  these  States  have  a  record,  clean  and  white, 
as  having  opposed  these  laws  in  every  instance  as  "  in 
famous."     Now  as  to  the  State  of  New  York,  it  is  asked 
whether  a  negro  is  not  obliged  to  have  a  certain  freehold 
property,  or  a  certain  amount  of  property,  before  he  can 
vote.     It  is  so  still  in    North  Carolina  and  Rhode  Island 
for  white    folks — it    is    so    in    New   York    State.       (Mr. 
Beecher's  voice  slightly  failed  him  here,  and  he  was  inter 
rupted   by  a  person    who   tried   to  imitate  him  ;  cries  of 
"  Shame  "  and  "Turn  him  out.")     I  am  not  undertaking 
to  say  that  these  faults  of  the  North,  which  were  brought 
upon  them  by  the  bad  example  and  influence  of  the  South, 
are  all  cured  ;  but  I  do  say  that  they  are  in  a  process  of 
cure  which  promises,  if  unimpeded  by  foreign    influence, 
to  make  all  such  odious  distinctions  vanish.     "  Is  it  not  a 
fact  that  in-  most  of  the   Northern  States  laws  exist  pre 
cluding  negroes  from  equal  civil  and  political  rights  with 
the   whites  ? "     I  will  tell  you.     Let  us  compare  the  con- 


j6o    HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

dition  of  the  negro  in  the  North  and  the  South,  and  that 
will  tell  the  story.  By  express  law  the  South  takes  away 
from  the  slave  all  attributes  of  manhood,  and  calls  him 
"  chattel,"  which  is  another  word  for  "  cattle."  (Hear, 
hear,  and  hisses.)  No  law  in  any  Northern  State  calls 
him  anything  else  but  a  person.  The  South  denies  the 
right  of  legal  permanent  marriage  to  the  slave.  There  is 
not  a  State  of  the  North  where  the  marriage  of  the  slave 
is  not  as  sacred  as  that  of  any  free  white  man.  (Im 
mense  cheering.)  Throughout  the  South,  since  the  slave 
is  not  permitted  to  live  in  anything  but  in  concubinage, 
his  wife,  so-called,  is  taken  from  him  at  the  will  of  his 
master,  and  there  is  neither  public  sentiment  nor  law 
that^can  hinder  most  dreadful  and  cruel  separations  every 
year  in  every  county  and  town.  There  is  not  a  State, 
county,  or  town,  or  school  district  in  the  North  where, 
if  any  man  dare  to  violate  the  family  of  the  poorest  black 
man,  there  would  not  be  an  indignation  that  would  over 
whelm  him.  (Loud  applause.  A  voice  :  "  How  about 
the  riots  ?  ")  Irishmen  made  that  entirely.  In  the  South 
by  statutory  law  it  is  a  penitentiary  offence  to  teach 
a  black  man  to  read  and  write.  In  the  North  not 
only  are  hundreds  and  thousands  of  dollars  expended 
of  State  money  in  teaching  colored  people,  but  they  have 
their  own  schools,  their  own  academies,  their  own 
churches,  their  own  ministers,  their  own  lawyers.  In  the 
South,  black  men  are  bred,  exactly  as  cattle  are  bred  in 
the  North,  for  the  market  and  for  sale.  Such  dealing  is 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1 863.  !  6 1 

considered  horrible  beyond  expression  in  the  North.  In 
the  South  the  slave  can  own  nothing  by  law,  but  in  the 
single  city  of  New  York  there  are  ten  million  dollars  of 
money  belonging  to  free  colored  people.  (Loud  ap 
plause.)  In  the  South  no  colored  man  can  determine — 
(uproar) — no  colored  man  can  determine  in  the  South 
where  he  will  work,  nor  at  what  he  will  work  ;  but  in  the 
North, — except  in  the  great  cities,  where  we  are  crowded 
by  foreigners, — in  any  country  part  the  black  man  may 
choose  his  trade  and  work  at  it,  and  is  just  as  much  pro 
tected  by  the  laws  as  any  white  man  in  the  land.  I  speak 
with  authority  on  this  point.  (Cries  of  "  No.")  When  I 
was  twelve  years  old,  my  father  hired  Charles  Smith,  a 
man  as  black  as  lampblack,  to  work  on  his  farm.  I  slept 
with  him  in  the  same  room.  ("  Oh,  oh.")  Ah,  that  don't 
suit  you.  (Uproar.)  Now,  you  see,  the  South  comes 
out.  (Loud  laughter.)  I  ate  with  him  at  the  same  ta 
ble  ;  I  sang  with  him  out  of  the  same  hymn-book — 
("  Good  ")  ; — I  cried,  when  he  prayed  over  me  at  night ; 
and  if  I  had  serious  impressions  of  religion  early  in  life, 
they  were  due  to  the  fidelity  and  example  of  that  poor 
humble  farm-laborer,  black  Charles  Smith.  (Tremen 
dous  uproar  and  cheers.)  In  the  South,  no  matter  what 
injury  a  colored  man  may  receive,  he  is  not  allowed  to 
appear  in  court  nor  to  testify  against  a  white  man.  (A 
voice :  "  That's  fact.")  In  every  single  court  of  the 
North  a  respectable  colored  man  is  as  good  a  witness,  as 
if  his  face  were  white  as  an  angel's  robe.  (Applause  and 
ii 


\()2     HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER 'S  SPEECHES 

laughter.)  I  ask  any  truthful  and  considerate  man 
whether,  in  this  contrast,  it  does  not  appear  that,  though 
faults  may  yet  linger  in  the  North  uneradicated,  the  state 
of  the  negro  in  the  North  is  not  immeasurably  better  than 
anywhere  in  the  South?  And  now,  for  the  first  time  in 
the  history  of  America — (great  interruption), — for  the 
first  time  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  a  colored 
man  has  received  a  commission  under  the  broad  seal  and 
signature  of  the  President  of  the  United  States.  This 
day — (renewed  interruption) — this  day,  Frederick  Doug 
las,  of  whom  you  all  have  heard  here,  is  an  officer  of  the 
United  States — (loud  applause) — a  commissioner  sent 
down  to  organize  colored  regiments  on  Jefferson  Davis's 
farm  in  Mississippi.  (Uproar  and  applause,  and  a  Voice, 
"  You  put  them  in  the  front  of  the  battle  too.")  There  is 
another  fact  that  I  wish  to  allude  to — not  for  the  sake  of 
reproach  or  blame,  but  by  way  of  claiming  your  more  len 
ient  consideration — and  that  is,  that  slavery  was  entailed 
upon  us  by  your  action.  Against  the  earnest  protests  of 
the  colonists  the  then  Government  of  Great  Britain — 
I  will  concede  not  knowing  what  were  the  mischiefs — 
ignorantly,  but  in  point  of  fact,  forced  slave  traffic  on  the 
unwilling  colonists.  (Great  uproar,  in  the  midst  of 
which  one  individual  was  lifted  up  and  carried  out  of  the 
room  amidst  cheers  and  hisses.) 

The  CHAIRMAN  :  If  you  would  only  sit  down  no 
disturbance  would  take  place. 

The  disturbance  having  subsided, — 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  163 

Mr.  BEECH ER  said  :  I  was  going  to  ask  you,  suppose 
a  child  is  born  with  hereditary  disease ;  suppose  this  dis 
ease  was  entailed  upon  him  by  parents  who  had  con 
tracted  it  by  their  own  misconduct,  would  it  be  fair  that 
those  parents,  that  had  brought  into  the  world  the  dis 
eased  child,  should  rail  at  that  child  because  it  was 
diseased.  ("  No,  no.")  Would  not  the  child  have  a  right 
to  turn  round  and  say,  "  Father,  it  was  your  fault  that  I 
had  it,  and  you  ought  to  be  pleased  to  be  patient  with 
my  deficiencies."  (Applause  and  hisses,  and  cries  of 
"  order ;  '  great  interruption  and  great  disturbance  here 
took  place  on  the  right  of  the  platform ;  and  the  chair 
man  said  that  if  the  persons  around  the  unfortunate  in 
dividual  who  had  caused  the  disturbance  would  allow  him 
to  speak  alone,  but  not  assist  him  in  making  the  disturb 
ance,  it  might  soon  be  put  an  end  to.  The  interruption 
was  continued  until  another  person  was  carried  out  of  the 
hall.)  Mr.  Beecher  continued  :  I  do-  not  ask  that  you 
should  justify  slavery  in  us,  because  it  was  wrong  in  you 
two  hundred  years  ago  ;  but  having  ignorantly  been  the 
means  of  fixing  it  upon  us,  now  that  we  are  struggling 
with  mortal  struggles  to  free  ourselves  from  it,  we  have  a 
right  to  your  tolerance,  your  patience,  and  charitable  con 
struction.  I  am  every  day  asked  when  this  war  will  end. 
I  wish  I  could  tell  you ;  but  remember  slavery  is  the 
cause  of  the  war.  Slavery  has  been  working  for  more 
than  100  years,  and  a  chronic  evil  cannot  be  suddenly 
cured  ;  and  as  war  is  the  remedy,  you  must  be  patient  to 


!64         HENRY  WARD  B RECITER  'S  SPEECHES 

have  the  conflict  long  enough  to  cure  the  inveterate  hered 
itary  sore.  (Hisses,  loud  applause,  and  a  voice  :  "  We'll 
stop  it.")  But  of  one  thing  I  think  I  may  give  you  as 
surance — this  war  won't  end  until  the  cancer  of  slavery 
is  cut  out  by  the  roots.  (Loud  applause,  hisses,  and  tre 
mendous  uproar.)  I  will  read  you  a  word  from  President 
Lincoln.  (Renewed  uproar.)  It  will  be  printed  whether 
you  hear  it  or  hear  it  not.  (Hear,  and  cries  of  "  Read, 
read.")  Yes,  I  will  read.  "  A  talk  with  President  Lincoln 
revealed  to  me  a  great  growth  of  wisdom.  For  instance, 
he  said  he  was  not  going  to  press  the  colonization  idea  any 
longer,  nor  the  gradual  scheme  of  emancipation,  express 
ing  himself  sorry  that  the  Missourians  had  postponed 
emancipation  for  seven  years.  He  said,  'Tell  your  anti- 
slavery  friends  that  I  am  coming  out  all  right.'  He  is 
desirous  that  the  border  States  shall  form  free  constitu 
tions,  recognizing  the  proclamation,  and  thinks  this  will 
be  made  feasible  by  calling  on  loyal  men."  (A  voice  : 
"What  date  is  that  letter?"  and  interruption.)  Ladies 
and  gentlemen,  I  have  finished  the  exposition  of  this 
troubled  subject.  (Renewed  and  continued  interruption.) 
No  man  can  unveil  the  future  :  no  man  can  tell  what  rev 
olutions  are  about  to  break  upon  the  world;  no  man 
can  tell  what  destiny  belongs  to  France,  nor  to  any 
of  the  European  powers ;  but  one  thing  is  certain, 
that  in  the  exigencies  of  the  future  there  will  be 
combinations  and  re-combinations,  and  that  those  nations 
that  are  of  the  same  faith,  the  same  blood,  and  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  165 

same  substantial  interests,  ought  not  to  be  alienated  from 
each  other,  but  ought  to  stand  together.  I  do  not  say 
that  you  ought  not  to  be  in  the  most  friendly  alliance 
with  France  or  with  Germany  ;  but  I  do  say  that  your  own 
children,  the  offspring  of  England,  ought  to  be  nearer  to 
you  than  any  people  of  strange  tongue.  (A  voice  :  "  De 
generate  sons,"  applause  and  hisses ;  another  voice  : 
"  What  about  the  Trent  ?  ")  If  there  had  been  any  feel 
ings  of  bitterness  in  America,  let  me  tell  you  they  had 
been  excited,  rightly  or  wrongly,  under  the  impression 
that  Great  Britian  was  going  to  intervene  between  us  and 
our  own  lawful  struggle.  (A  voice  :  "  No,"  and  applause.) 
With  the  evidence  that  there  is  no  such  intention  all  bitter 
feelings  will  pass  away.  We  do  not  agree  with  the  re 
cent  doctrine  of  neutrality  as  a  question  of  law.  But  it 
is  past,  and  we  are  not  disposed  to  raise  that  question. 
We  accept  it  now  as  a  fact,  and  we  say  that  the  utterance 
of  Lord  Russell  at  Blairgowrie — (Applause,  hisses,  and  a 
Voice  :  "  What  about  Lord  Brougham  ?  ") — together  with 
the  declaration  of  the  government  in  stopping  war-steam 
ers  here — (great  uproar,  and  applause) — has  gone  far 
towards  quieting  every  fear  and  removing  every  appre 
hension  from  our  minds.  (Uproar  and  shouts  of  applause.) 
And  now  in  the  future  it  is  the  work  of  every  good  man 
and  patriot  not  to  create  divisions,  but  to  do  the  things 
that  will  make  for  peace.  On  our  part  it  shall  be  done. 
(Applause  and  hisses,  and  "  No,  no.")  On  your  part  it 
ought  to  be  done  ;  and  when  in  any  of  the  convulsions 


!66          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

that  come  upon  the  world,  Great  Britain  finds  herself 
struggling  single-handed  against  the  gigantic  powers  that 
spread  oppression  and  darkness — (applause,  hisses,  and 
uproar) — there  ought  to  be  such  cordiality  that  she  can 
turn  and  say  to  her  first-born  and  most  illustrious  child, 
"  Come  ! "  (Hear,  hear,  applause,  tremendous  cheers, 
and  uproar.)  I  will  not  say  that  England  cannot  again, 
as  hitherto,  single-handed  manage  any  power — (applause 
and  uproar) — but  I  will  say  that  England  and  America  to 
gether  for  religion  and  liberty — (A  voice  ;  "  Soap,  soap," 
uproar,  and  great  applause) — are  a  match  for  the  world. 
(Applause ;  a  voice  :  "  They  don't  want  any  more  soft 
soap,")  Now,  gentlemen  and  ladies, — (A  voice  :  "  Sam 
Slick ;  "  and  another  voice  :  "  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  if 
you  please  ") — when  I  came  I  was  asked  whether  I  would 
answer  questions,  and  I  very  readily  consented  to  do  so, 
as  I  had  in  other  places  ;  but  I  will  tell  you  it  was  be 
cause  I  expected  to  have  the  opportunity  of  speaking  with 
some  sort  of  ease  and  quiet.  (A  voice  :  "  So  you  have.") 
I  have  for  an  hour  and  a  half  spoken  against  a  storm, 
and  you  yourselves  are  witnesses  that,  by  the  interruption, 
I  have  been  obliged  to  strive  with  my  voice,  so  that  I 
no  longer  have  the  power  to  control  this  assembly. 
(Applause.)  And  although  I  am  in  spirit  perfectly 
willing  to  answer  any  question,  and  more  than  glad  of 
the  chance,  yet  I  am  by  this  very  unnecessary  opposition 
to-night  incapacitated  physically  from  doing  it.  (A  voice  : 
"  Why  did  Lincoln  delay  the  proclamation  of  slavery  so 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^7 

long. — Another  voice  :  "  Habeas  Corpus."  A  piece  of 
paper  was  here  handed  up  to  Mr.  Beecher.)  I  am  asked 
a  question.  I  will  answer  this  one.  "  At  the  auction  of 
sittings  in  your  church,  can  the  negroes  bid  on  equal 
terms  with  the  whites  ?  "  (Cries  of  "  No,  no.")  Perhaps 
you  know  better  than  I  do.  But  I  declare  that  they  can. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  applause.)  I  declare  that,  at  no  time 
for  ten  years  past — without  any  rule  passed  by  the 
trustees,  and  without  even  a  request  from  me — no  decent 
man  or  woman  has  ever  found  molestation  or  trouble  in 
walking  into  my  church  and  sitting  where  he  or  she  pleased. 
("  Are  any  of  the  office-bearers  in  your  church  negroes  ?  ") 
No,  not  to  my  knowledge.  Such  has  been  the  practi 
cal  doctrine  of  amalgamation  in  the  South  that  it  is  very  dif 
ficult  now-a-days  to  tell  who  is  a  negro.  Whenever  a  ma 
jority  of  my  people  want  a  negro  to  be  an  officer,  he  will 
be  one  ;  and  I  am  free  to  say  that  there  are  a  great  many 
men  that  I  know,  who  are  abundantly  capable  of  honoring 
any  office  of  trust  in  the  gift  of  our  church.  But  while 
there  are  none  in  my  church  there  is  in  Columbia  county 
a  little  church  where  a  negro  man,  being  the  ablest  busi 
ness  man,  and  the  wealthiest  man  in  that  town,  is  not  only 
a  ruler  and  elder  of  the  church,  but  also  contributes  about 
two-thirds  of  all  the  expenses  of  it.  (Voice  :  "  That  is  the 
exception,  not  the  rule.")  I  am  answering  these  questions, 
you  see,  out  of  gratuitous  mercy :  I  am  not  bound  to  do 
so.  It  is  asked  whether  Pennsylvania  was  not  carried 
for  Mr.  Lincoln  on  account  of  his  advocacy  of  the  Morrill 


!  68          HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

tariff,  and  whether  the  tariff  was  not  one  of  the  planks  of 
the  Chicago  platform,  on  which  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected. 
I  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  that  election  ;  but  I  tell  you 
that  whatever  local — (Here  the  interruptions  became 
so  noisy,  that  it  was  found  impossible  to  proceed.  The 
Chairman  asked  how  they  could  expect  Mr.  Beecher  to 
answer  qnestions  amid  such  a  disturbance.  When  order 
had  been  restored,  the  lecturer  proceeded  :) — I  am  not 
afraid  to  leave  the  treatment  I  have  received  at  this  meet 
ing  to  the  impartial  judgment  of  every  fair-playing 
Englishman.  When  I  am  asked  questions,  gentlemanly 
courtesy  requires  that  I  should  be  permitted  to  answer 
them.  (A  voice  from  the  father  end  of  the  room  shouted 
something  about  the  inhabitants  of  Liverpool.)  I  know 
that  it  was  in  the  placards  requested  to  give  Mr.  Beecher  a 
reception  that  should  make  him  understand  what  the  opin 
ion  of  Liverpool  was  about  him.  ("  No,  no ;  and  Yes, 
yes.")  There  are  two  sides  to  every  question,  and  Mr. 
Beecher's  opinion  about  the  treatment  of  Liverpool's  citi 
zens  is  just  as  much  as  your  opinion  about  the  treatment 
of  Mr.  Beecher.  Let  me  say,  that  if  you  wish  me  to  answer 
questions  you  must  be  still ;  for  if  I  am  interrupted, 
that  is  the  end  of  the  matter.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
"  Bravo.")  I  have  this  to  say,  that  I  have  no  doubt  the 
Morrill  tariff,  or  that  which  is  now  called  so,  did 
exercise  a  great  deal  of  influence,  not  alone  in  Pennsyl 
vania,  but  in  many  other  parts  of  the  country ,  because 
there  are  many  sections  of  our  country — those  especially 


TN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  l  £g 

where  the  manufacture  of  iron  or  wool  are  the 
predominating  industries — that  are  yet  very  much  in 
favor  of  protective  tariffs ;  but  the  thinking  men  and 
the  influential  men  of  both  parties  are  becoming 
more  and  more  in  favor  of  free-trade.  "  Can  a 
negro  ride  in  a  public  vehicle  in  New  York  with  a  white 
man  ? "  I  reply  that  there  are  times  when  politicians  stir 
up  the  passions  of  the  lower  classes  of  men  and  the  for 
eigners,  and  there  are  times  just  on  the  eve  of  an  election 
when  the  prejudice  against  the  colored  man  is  stirred  up 
and  excited,  in  which  they  will  be  disturbed  in  any  part  of 
the  city ;  but  taking  the  period  of  the  year  throughout, 
one  year  after  another,  there  are  but  one  or  two  of  the 
city  horse-railroads  in  which  a  respectable  colored  man 
will  be  molested  in  riding  through  the  city,  It  is  only  on 
one  railroad  that  this  happened,  and  it  is  one  which  I 
have  in  the  pulpit  and  the  press  always  held  up  to  severe 
reproof.  At  the  Fulton  Ferry  there  are  two  lines  of  omni 
buses,  one  white  and  the  other  blue.  I  had  been  accus 
tomed  to  go  in  them  indifferently ;  but  one  day  I  saw  a 
little  paper  stuck  upon  one  of  them,  saying  "  Colored 
people  not  allowed  to  ride  in  this  omnibus."  I  instantly 
got  out.  There  are  men  who  stand  at  the  door  of  these 
two  omnibus  lines,  urging  passengers  into  one  or  the  other. 
I  am  very  well  known  to  all  of  them,  and  the  next  day, 
when  I  came  to  the  place,  the  gentleman  serving  asked 
"Won't  you  ride,  sir?"  "  No,"  I  said,  "I  am  too  much 
of  a  negro  to  ride  in  that  omnibus."  (Laughter.)  I  do 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

not  know  whether  this  had  any  influence,  but  I  do  know, 
that  after  a  fortnight's  time  I  had  occasion  to  look  in,  and 
the  placard  was  gone.  I  called  the  attention  of  every  one 
I  met  to  that  fact,  and  said  to  them,  "  Don't  ride  in  that 
omnibus,  which  violates  your  principles,  and  my  princi 
ples,  and  common  decency  at  the  same  time."  I  say  still 
further,  that  in  all  New  England  there  is  not  a  railway 
where  a  colored  man  cannot  ride  as  freely  as  a  white  man. 
In  the  whole  city  of  New  York,  a  colored  man  taking  a 
stage  or  railway  will  never  be  inconvenienced  or  suffer 
any  discourtesy.  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  bid  you  good 
evening. — Mr.  Beecher's  resuming  his  seat  was  the  signal 
for  another  outburst  of  loud  and  prolonged  cheers,  hisses, 
groans,  cat-calls,  and  every  conceivable  species  of  expres 
sion  of  approbation  and  disapprobation.  Three  cheers 
were  proposed  for  the  lecturer  from  the  galleries,  and  en 
thusiastically  given. 

The  Rev.  C.  M.  BIRRELL  then  came  forward  and 
said  it  would  have  been  very  unlike  the  fairness  of  Eng 
lishmen  if  that  assembly  had  not  given  to  a  distinguished 
stranger  a  fair  and  impartial  hearing  ;  and  it  would  have 
been  as  unlike  a  free  American  to  demand  of  Englishmen 
that  they  should  accept  his  opinions  merely  because  they 
were  his.  But,  since  Mr.  Beecher  had  given  to  them, 
under  circumstances  of  great  difficulty,  and  with  marvel 
lous  courtesy  and  patience,  an  elaborate,  temperate,  and 
most  eloquent  lecture,  he  called  upon  them  to  render  him 
a  cordial  vote  of  thanks.  (Hear,  hear,  and  hisses.)  He 


IN  ENGLAND  L\'  1863.  j-j 

expected  that  that  vote  would  be  joined  in  by  all  the  rep 
resentatives  of  the  American  slave-holders  in  that  assem 
bly,  considering  that  they  had  had  more  instruction  that 
night  than  they  had  apparently  received  during  all  the 
previous  part  of  their  lives.  ("  Oh,  oh,"  cheers  and  laugh 
ter.) 

Mr.  W.  CROSSFIELD,  in  seconding  the  resolution, 
said,  as  an  inhabitant  of  Liverpool,  he  had  been  ashamed 
at  the  conduct  of  that  meeting — an  assembly  of  gentle 
men,  or  those  who  professed  to  be  gentlemen.  For  him 
self  he  most  cordially  thanked  Mr.  Beecher  for  the  very 
interesting  lecture  they  had  had. 

The  vote  was  carried  with  loud  and  prolonged  cheering 
and  the  waving  of  hats. 

The  CHAIRMAN  said  he  was  sure  Mr.  Beecher  would 
be  quite  satisfied  with  that  unanimous  expression  of  feel 
ing,  and  the  disturbance  which  had  been  created  was  not 
the  expression  of  the  feeling  of  the  meeting,  but  the  work 
of  a  few  persons  in  the  room  who  had  come  for  the  pur 
pose  of  opposition.  The  Chairman  then  put  the  negative 
of  the  proposition,  but  the  meeting  was  in  a  state  of  con 
fusion.  Of  those  who  understood  the  proceeding  there 
were  none  to  be  seen  who  stood  up  to  negative  the  vote. 


172 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


SPEECH     DELIVERED    IN    EXETER    HALL, 
LONDON,  OCTOBER  20,  1863. 

THE  public  interest  excited  by  the  reports  of  Mr.  Beech- 
er's  speeches  delivered  in  Manchester,  Glasgow,  Edinburgh 
and  Liverpool  left  no  room  for  doubt  that  his  London 
audience  would  only  be  limited  by  the  capacity  of  the 
building.  In  the  first  instance  it  was  proposed  that  only 
a  portion  of  the  hall  should  be  set  apart  for  reserved  seats, 
and  that  the  remaining  space  should  be  occupied  with 
free  seats  ;  but  the  demand  for  tickets  far  exceeded  any 
possible  supply,  and  long  before  the  day  of  meeting  it  be 
came  evident  that  thousands  would  be  disappointed.  It 
is  of  course  quite  unnecessary  to  say  that  long  before  the 
hour  of  meeting  the  great  hall  was  densely  packed  by  as 
many  human  beings  as  could  find  sitting  or  standing  room 
in  any  part  of  the  edifice,  however  inconvenient  or  peril 
ous  the  position.  They  were  both  patient  and  good- 
humored  while  waiting  for  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Beecher, 
who  found  great  difficulty  in  forcing  a  way  through  the 
enormous  mass  of  people,  which,  in  the  Strand  and  Exeter- 
street,  literally  beleaguered  the  place  of  meeting.  On 
presenting  himself  to  the  audience,  accompanied  by  many 
of  the  leading  supporters  of  the  Emancipation  movement, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  1 73 

he  was  welcomed  by  long  and  reiterated  plaudits,  which 
were  again  and  again  repeated,  the  audience  rising  en 
masse.  The  entire  scene  brought  vividly  to  mind  the 
great  meeting  held  in  the  same  building  ten  months  ago, 
although,  if  possible,  the  enthusiasm  and  unanimity  were 
still  greater  than  on  that  memorable  occasion.  The 
friends  of  Secession  had  endeavored  to  stir  up  some  per 
sonal  feeling  against  the  lecturer  by  inflammatory  pla 
cards,  which  covered  every  wall  in  the  metropolis  ;  but 
the  result  only  exhibited  their  own  weakness  and  the  total 
absence  of  any  popular  sympathy  with  their  cause.  There 
was  a  small  group  of  Southern  sympathizers  here  and 
there,  but  so  small  as  to  be  utterly  unable  to  do  more 
than  give  vent  to  a  few  hisses,  which  were  always  drowned 
by  a  torrent  of  applause.  The  cheers  were  now  and  then 
relieved  by  stentorian  groans  for  the  Times,  Mr.  Mason, 
and  other  unpopular  organs  of  the  press  and  individual 
Secessionists ;  and  we  may  remark  that  this  species  of 
honor  was  very  fairly  divided  between  Printing-house- 
square  and  the  notorious  author  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Law.  The  name  of  President  Lincoln  was  received,  as  it 
always  is  in  an  open  English  audience,  with  a  tempest  of 
applause  ;  and  when  Mr.  Beecher  alluded  to  the  retention 
of  the  rams,  and  said  that  when  he  returned  to  America 
he  should  have  "a  different  story"  to  tell  of  the  state  of 
English  public  opinion  from  that  which  had  previously 
obtained  credence  there,  the  assembly  testified  their 
approbation  by  a  demonstration  which  has  never  been 


^4         JIENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

surpassed  and  rarely  equalled  in  the  palmiest  days  of  agi 
tation.  Dark  complexions  were  not  wanting  in  that  vast 
multitude  of  upturned  faces  ;  and  conspicuous  in  the  body 
of  the  hall  was  a  venerable  negro,  who  excited  some 
amusement  by  the  vigor  with  which  he  acted  as  fugleman 
throughout  Mr.  Beecher's  speech.  The  courage  of  the 
malcontents  sensibly  diminished  as  the  proceedings 
advanced,  and  ultimately  only  three  hands  were  held  up 
against  the  resolution  moved  by  Professor  Newman. 
Every  now'and  then  the  cheers  of  "  the  outsiders,"  who 
extemporized  a  meeting  of  their  own,  echoed  through  the 
hall,  and  helped  to  swell  the  plaudits  of  those  who  had 
been  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  admission.  Scarcely 
any  one  left  before  the  meeting  was  brought  to  a  close,  and 
we  venture  to  say  that  not  one  of  the  assembled  thousands 
will  ever  forget  Mr.  Beecher's  last  public  address  in  Eng 
land,  or  the  popular  enthusiasm  which  it  evoked  in  his 
honor  and  in  sympathy  with  the  cause  which  he  repre 
sented. 

The  chair  was  taken  by  Benjamin  Scott,  Esq.,  Cham 
berlain,  of  London,  and  the  following  were  among  the  gen 
tlemen  present :  Sir  Charles  Fox,  Prof.  Newman,  Prof. 
Newth,  Dr.  Halley,  Rev.  Newman  Hall,  John  Howard 
Hinton,  Geo.  Thompson  Esq.,  and  Washington  Wilks 
Esq. 

The  CHAIRMAN  said:  Ladies  and  gentlemen, 
allow  me  to  inform  you  that  the  crowd  out 
side  the  building  is  so  dense  that  Mr.  Beecher  has 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  \  863.  ^5 

not  been  able  to  force  his  way  punctually.  It  has 
been  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  I  and  some 
other  members  of  the  committee  have  found  our  way 
here.  You  will,  therefore,  I  am  sure,  make  all 
allowance  for  Mr.  Beecher  if  he  should  yet  be  a  few  min 
utes  behind  time.  I  will  proceed  to  address  a  few  words 
pending  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Beecher.  Appearing  before 
you  to  preside  this  evening,  I  regret  to  say  in  place  of 
Mr.  Bright,  whom  we  had  hoped  to  be  present,  I  must  in 
form  you  that  it  is  not  our  object  to  discuss  the  great 
American  struggle.  There  will  be  and  there  are  present 
ed  to  us,  from  day  to  day,  abundant  opportunities  of  dis 
cussing  that  momentous  question.  Our  object  to-night  is 
to  afford  an  opportunity  to  a  distinguished  stranger  to  ad 
dress  us  on  that  absorbing  topic — a  gentleman  who  is  en 
titled,  whatever  opinions  we  may  hold,  to  our  profound 
respect.  (Great  cheering.)  Whether  we  regard  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  as  the  son  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Beecher, 
or  as  the  brother  of  Mrs.  Beecher  Stowe,  or  a  stranger 
visiting  our  shores,  whether  we  regard  him  as  a  gentle 
man  or  a  Christian  minister,  and  as  the  uncompromising 
advocate  of  human  rights,  he  is  entitled  to  our  respectful 
and  courteous  attention.  I  am  quite  sure  that  this  as 
sembly  of  Englishmen  and  English  women  will  support 
me  in  securing  for  him  a  respectful  hearing.  It  becomes 
the  more  incumbent  upon  us  to  do  so  since  he  states  that 
the  rapid  and  fragmentary  reports  of  speeches  delivered 
in  America  which  were  flashed  across  the  Atlantic  by  the 


!  76          HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER 'S  SPEECHES 

elegraph  have  been  so  brief  and  hurried  that  they  have 
not  conveyed  to  us  his  full  meaning  and  sense.  He  has 
been  very  often  misunderstood,  and,  I  fear,  misrepresent 
ed  ;  and,  as  a  stranger  about  to  depart  from  our  shores  in 
a  few  days,  he  asks  for  this  opportunity  of  putting  himself 
right  with  the  London  public  upon  this  question.  You 
will  hear  him  and  judge  of  his  statements,  and  I  am  sure 
you  will  accord  him  a  fair  hearing.  I  shall  myself  ab 
stain  advisedly  from  entering  upon  the  subject  of  to 
night's  address.  I  wish  merely  to  take  this  opportunity 
of  saying  how  much  I  esteem  the  man  personally,  and  be 
cause  he  has  been  the  uncompromising  advocate,  for 
twenty-five  years,  in  times  of  peace  and  before  the  war,  of 
the  emancipation  of  the  enslaved  and  oppressed.  He 
was  one  of  the  few  thinking  men  who  were  the  noble  pio 
neers  of  freedom  on  the  American  continent.  He  was  so 
when  it  was  neither  fashionable  nor  profitable  to  be  so. 
He  took  his  stand,  not  on  the  shifting  sands  of  expedi 
ency,  but  on  the  immovable  rock  of  principle.  He  had 
put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  would  never  turn  back. 
Some  people  had  allowed  their  ears  to  be  stuffed  with 
cotton — (laughter  and  cheers) — some  were  blinded  by 
gold  dust,  and  some  had  allowed  the  gag  of  expediency 
to  be  put  in  their  mouths  to  quiet  them.  But  Henry 
Ward  Beecher  stood  before  the  world  of  America,  and  for 
some  time  stood  almost  alone,  and  called  things  by  their 
right  names.  He  had  no  mealy-mouthed  expressions 
about  peculiar  institutions,  patriarchal  institutions,  and 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

paternal  institutions — ("  hear,  hear,  "  and  laughter) — but 
he  called  slavery  by  the  old  English  name  of  slavery. 
(Loud  cheers.)  And  he  charged  to  the  account  of  that 
crime  cruelty,  lust,  murder,  rapine,  piracy.  (Loud  cheers.) 
He  minced  not  his  terms  or  his  phrases.  He  looked 
right  ahead  to  the  course  of  duty  which  he  had  selected  ; 
and,  regardless  of  the  threats  of  man  or  the  wrath  of  man, 
although  the  tar-pot  was  ready  for  him  and  the  feathers 
were  prepared — although  the  noose  and  the  halter  were 
ready  and  almost  about  his  neck — he  went  straight  on 
ward  to  the  object ;  and  now  he  has  converted — as  every 
man  who  stands  alone  for  the  truth  and  right  will  event 
ually  convert — a  large  majority  of  those  who  were  origi 
nally  opposed  to  him.  What  the  humble  draper's  assist_ 
ant,  Granville  Sharpe,  did  in  this  country,  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  and  two  or  three  like-minded  men  have  done  on 
the  continent  of  America.  When  he  heard  Christian  min. 
isters — God  save  the  mark  ! — standing  in  their  pulpits 
with  the  Book  of  Truth  before  them,  and  stating  that  the 
institution  of  slavery  was  Christian,  he  did  not  mince  the 
matter — he  affirmed  that  it  was  bred  in  the  bottomless 
pit.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  honor  and  respecf  him  for  his 
manliness.  He  is  every  inch  a  man.  He  is  a  standard 
by  which  humanity  may  well  measure  itself.  Would  to 
God  we  had  a  hundred  such  men.  (Cheers.)  I  will  now 
call  upon  Mr.  Beecher — (great  cheering) — but  allow  me 
to  say  that  we  shall  only  prolong  our  meeting  in  this 
12 


lj%          HENRY  WARD  PERCHER'S  SPEECHES 

heated  atmosphere  by  not  affording    the  speakers  a  fair 
opportunity  of  addressing  you. 

Rev.  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  then  advanced  to 
the  front  of  the  platform  amidst  the  most  enthusiastic 
demonstrations  of  applause.  The  whole  audience  stood 
up  :  hats  and  handkerchiefs  were  waved,  and  for  some 
minutes  the  most  exciting  manifestations  of  hearty  Eng 
lish  good  feeling  were  extended  to  the  American  advo 
cate  of  freedom.  As  the  uproarious  greeting  subsided,  a 
few  hisses  rose  up  from  the  middle  of  the  room,  as  if  a 
body  of  serpents  had  somehow  or  other  found  their  way 
into  the  assembly,  and  were  adding  their  prolonged  trib 
ute  to  the  general  display.  Mr.  Beecher  then  addressed 
the  audience  as  follows,  speaking  distinctly  and  deliber 
ately  :  Ladies  and  gentlemen, — The  very  kind  intro 
duction  that  I  have  received  requires  but  a  single  word 
from  me.  I  should  be  guilty  if  I  could  take  all  the  credit 
which  has  been  generously  ascribed  to  me,  for  I  am  not 
old  enough  to  have  been  a  pioneer.  And  when  I  think 
of  such  names  as  Weld,  Alvin  Stewart,  Geritt  Smith, 
Joshua  Levitt,  William  Goodell,  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tap- 
pan,  William  Lloyd  Garrison — (loud  applause) — and  that 
most  accomplished  speaker  of  the  world,  Wendell  Phillips 
— (renewed  applause) — when  I  think  of  multitudes  of 
that  peculiar  class  of  Christians  called  Friends — when  I 
think  of  the  number  of  men,  obscure,  without  name  or 
fame,  who  labored  in  the  earliest  days  at  the  foundation 
of  this  reformation — and  when  I  remember  that  I  came 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  179 

in  afterwards  to  build  on  their  foundation— I  cannot  per 
mit  in  this  fair  country  the  honors  to  be  put  upon  me  and 
wrested  from  those  men  that  deserve  them  far  more  than 
I  do.  All  I  can  say  is  this,  that  when  I  began  my  public 
life  I  fell  into  the  ranks  under  the  appropriate  captains, 
and  fought  as  well  as  I  knew  how  in  the  ranks  or  in  com 
mand.  (Loud  cheers.)  As  this  is  my  last  public  address 
upon  the  American  question  in  England,  I  may  be  per 
mitted  to  glance  briefly  at  my  course  here.  At  Manches 
ter  I  attempted  to  give  a  history  of  the  external  political 
movement  for  fifty  years  past,  so  far  as  it  was  necessary  to 
illustrate  the  fact  that  the  present  American  war  was  only 
an  overt  and  warlike  form  of  a  contest  between  liberty  and 
slavery  that  had  been  going  on  politically  for  half  a  cent 
ury.  At  Glasgow  I  undertook  to  show  the  condition  of 
work  or  labor  necessitated  by  any  profitable  system  of 
slavery,  demonstrating  that  it  brought  labor  into  con 
tempt,  affixing  to  it  the  badge  of  degradation,  and  that  a 
struggle  to  extend  servile  labor  across  the  American  con 
tinent  interests  every  free  working  man  on  the  globe.  For 
my  sincere  belief  is  that  the  Southern  cause  is  the  natural 
enemy  of  free  labor  and  the  free  laborer  all  the  world 
over.  In  Edinburgh  I  endeavored  to  sketch  how,  out  of 
separate  colonies  and  States  intensely  jealous  of  their 
individual  sovereignty,  there  grew  up  and  was  finally 
established  a  NATION,  and  how  in  that  nation  of  United 
States  two  distinct  and  antagonistic  systems  were  de 
veloped  and  strove  for  the  guidance  of  the  national  policy, 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

which  struggle  at  length  passed  and  the  North  gained  the 
control.  Thereupon  the  South  abandoned  the  Union 
simply  and  solely  because  the  Government  was  in  future 
to  be  administered  by  men  who  would  give  their  whole 
influence  to  freedom.  In  Liverpool  I  labored,  under 
difficulties,— (laughter  and  cheers)— to  show  that  slavery 
in  the  long  run  was  as  hostile  to  commerce  and  to  manu 
factures  all  the  world  over  as  it  was  to  free  interests  in 
human  society,  that  a  slave  nation  must  be  a  poor  cus 
tomer,  buying  the  fewest  and  poorest  goods,  and  the  least 
profitable  to  the  producers ;  that  it  was  the  interest  of 
every  manufacturing  country  to  promote  freedom,  intelli 
gence,  and  wealth  amongst  all  nations  ;  that  this  attempt 
to  cover  the  fairest  portions  of  the  earth  with  a  slave 
population  that  buys  nothing,  and  a  degraded  white  popu 
lation  that  buys  next  to  nothing,  should  array  against  it 
every  true  political  economist  and  every  thoughtful  and 
far-seeing  manufacturer,  as  tending  to  strike  at  the  vital 
want  of  commerce — which  is  not  cotton,  but  rich  cus 
tomers.  I  have  endeavored  to  enlist  against  this  flagi 
tious  wickedness,  and  the  great  civil  war  which  it  has 
kindled,  the  judgment,  conscience,  and  interests  of  the 
British  people.  I  am  aware  that  a  popular  address 
before  an  excited  audience,  more  or  less  affected  by  party 
sympathies,  is  not  the  most  favorable  method  of  doing 
justice  to  these  momentous  topics  ;  and  there  have  been 
some  other  circumstances  which  made  it  yet  more  difficult 
to  present  a  careful  or  evenly  balanced  statement;  but  I 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  jgl 

shall  do  the  best  I  can  to  leave  no  vestige  of  doubt,  that 
slavery  was  the  cause — the  only  cause,  the  whole  cause 
— of  this  gigantic  and  cruel  war.  I  have  tried  to  show 
that  sympathy  for  the  South,  however  covered  by  excuses 
or  softened  by  sophistry,  is  simply  sympathy  with  an 
audacious  attempt  to  build  up  a  slave  empire  pure  and 
simple.  I  have  tried  to  show  that  in  this  contest  the 
North  were  contending  for  the  preservation  of  their  Gov 
ernment  and  their  own  territory,  and  those  popular  insti 
tutions  on  which  the  well-being  of  the  nation  depended. 
So  far,  I  have  spoken  to  the  English  from  an  English  point 
of  view.  To-night  I  ask  you  to  look  to  this  struggle  from 
an  American  point  of  view,  and  in  its  moral  aspects. 
That  is,  I  wish  you  to  take  our  stand-point  for  a  little 
while,  and  to  look  at  our  actions  and  motives,  not  from 
what  the  enemy  says,  but  from  what  we  say.  When  two 
men  have  disagreed,  you  seldom  promote  peace  between 
them  by  attempting  to  prove  that  either  of  them  is  all 
right  or  either  of  them  is  all  wrong.  Now  there  has  been 
some  disagreement  of  feeling  between  America  and 
Great  Britain.  I  don't  want  to  argue  the  question  to 
night  which  is  right  and  which  is  wrong,  but  if  some 
kind  neighbor  will  persuade  two  people  that  are  at  dis 
agreement  to  consider  each  other's  position  and  circum 
stances,  it  may  not  lead  either  to  adopting  the  other's 
judgment,  but  it  may  lead  them  to  say  of  each  other,  "  I 
think  he  is  honest  and  means  well,  even  if  he  be  mis 
taken."  You  may  not  thus  get  a  settlement  of  the  diffi- 


j  82         HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

culty,  but  you  will  get  a  settlement  of  the  quarrel.  I 
merely  ask  you  to  put  yourselves  in  our  track  for  one 
hour,  and  look  at  the  objects  as  we  look  at  them  ;  after 
that,  form  your  judgment  as  you  please.  The  first  and 
earliest  form  in  which  the  conflict  took  place  between 
North  and  South  was  purely  moral.  It  was  a  conflict 
simply  of  opinion  and  of  truths  by  argument;  and  by 
appeal  to  the  moral  sense  it  was  sought  to  persuade  the 
slave-holder  to  adopt  some  plan  of  emancipation.  When 
this  seemed  to  the  Southern  sensitiveness  unjust  and  in 
sulting,  it  led  many  in  the  North  to  silence,  especially  as 
the  South  seemed  to  apologize  for  slavery  rather  than 
defend  it  against  argument.  It  was  said,  "  The  evil  is 
upon  us  ;  we  cannot  help  it.  We  are  sullied,  but  it  is  a 
misfortune  rather  than  a  fault.  It  is  not  right  for  the 
North  to  meddle  with  that  which  is  made  worse  by  being 
meddled  with,  even  by  argument  or  appeal."  That  was 
the  earlier  portion  of  the  conflict.  A  great  many  men 
were  deceived  by  it.  I  never  myself  yielded  to  the  fal 
lacy.  As  a  minister  of  the  gospel  preaching  to  sinful 
men,  I  thought  it  my  duty  not  to  give  in  to  this  doctrine  ; 
their  sins  were  on  them,  and  I  thought  it  my  duty  not 
to  soothe  them,  but  rather  to  expose  them.  The  next  stage 
of  the  conflict  was  purely  political.  The  South  was  at 
tempting  to  extend  their  slave  system  into  the  Territories, 
and  to  prevent  free  States  from  covering  the  continent, 
by  bringing  into  the  Union  a  slave  State  for  every  free 
State.  It  was  also  the  design  and  endeavor  of  the  South 


i«3 

not  simply  to  hold  and  employ  the  enormous  power  and 
influence  of  the  Central  Executive,  but  also  to  engraft 
into  the  whole  Federal  Government  a  slave  State  policy. 
They  meant  to  fill  all  offices  at  home  and  abroad  with 
men  loyal  to  slavery — to  shut  up  the  road  to  political  pre 
ferment  against  men  who  had  aspirations  for  freedom, 
and  to  corrupt  the  young  and  ambitious  by  obliging  them 
to  swear  fealty  to  slavery  as  the  condition  of  success.  I 
am  saying  what  I  know.  I  have  seen  the  progressive 
corruption  of  men  naturally  noble,  educated  in  the  doc 
trine  of  liberty,  who  being  bribed  by  political  offices,  at 
last  bowed  the  knee  to  Moloch.  The  South  pursued  a 
uniform  system  of  bribing  and  corrupting  ambitious 
men  of  Northern  consciences.  A  far  more  dangerous 
part  of  its  policy  was  to  change  the  Constitution,  not 
overtly,  not  by  external  aggression — worse,  to  fill 
the  courts  with  Southern  judges — (shame) — until  first, 
by  laws  of  Congress  passed  through  Southern 
influence,  and  secondly,  by  the  construction  and 
adjudication  of  the  courts,  the  Constitution  having  be 
come  more  and  more  tied  up  to  Southern  principles,  the 
North  would  have  to  submit  to  slavery,  or  else  to  oppose 
it  by  violating  the  law  and  constitution  as  construed  by 
servile  judges.  They  were,  in  short,  little  by  little,  in 
jecting  the  laws,  constitution  and  policy  of  the  country 
with  the  poison  and  blood  of  slavery.  I  will  not  let  this 
stand  on  my  own  testimony.  I  am  going  to  read  the  un 
conscious  corroboration  of  this  by  Mr.  Stephens,  the  Vice- 


1 84         HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  >S  SPEECHES 

President  of  the  present  Confederacy — one,  to  his  credit 
be  it  said,  who  at  one  time  was  a  most  sincere  and  ear 
nest  opponent  of  Secession.  It  is  as  follows  : — 

This  step  (of  Secession)  once  taken,  can  never  be  re 
called  ;  and  all  the  baleful  and  withering  consequences 
that  must  follow  will  rest  on  the  convention  for  all  coming 
time.  When  we  and  our  posterity  shall  see  our  lovely 
South  desolated  by  the  demon  of  war,  which  this  act  of 
yours  will  inevitably  invite  and  call  forth  ;  when  our  green 
fields  of  waving  harvests  shall  be  trodden  down  by  the 
murderous  soldiery  and  fiery  car  of  war  sweeping  over 
our  land  ;  our  temples  of  justice  laid  in  ashes ;  all  the 
horrors  and  desolation  of  war  upon  us;  who  but  this 
convention  will  be  held  responsible  for  it  ?  and  who  but 
him  who  shall  have  given  his  vote  for  this  unwise  and  ill- 
timed  measure,  as  I  honestly  think  and  believe,  shall  be 
held  to  strict  account  for  this  suicidal  act  by  the  present 
generation,  and  probably  cursed  and  execrated  by  poster 
ity  for  all  coming  time,  for  the  wide  and  desolating  ruin 
that  will  inevitably  follow  this  act  you  now  propose  to 
perpetrate  ?  Pause,  I  entreat  you,  and  consider  for  a 
moment  what  reasons  you  can  give  that  will  even  satisfy 
yourselves  in  calmer  moments — what  reasons  you  can 
give  to  your  fellow-sufferers  in  the  calamity  that  it  will 
bring  upon  us.  What  reasons  can  you  give  to  the  nations 
of  the  earth  to  justify  it  ?  They  will  be  the  calm  and  de 
liberate  judges  in  the  case  ;  and  what  cause  or  one  overt 
act  can  you  name  or  point  on  which  to  rest  the  plea  of 
justification?  What  right  has  the  North  assailed  I  What 
interest  of  the  South  has  been  invaded  ?  What  justice 
has  been  denied  ?  and  what  claim  founded  in  justice  and 
right  has  been  withheld  ?  Can  either  of  you  to-day  name 
one  governmental  act  of  wrong,  deliberately  and  pur 
posely  done  by  the  Government  of  Washington,  of  which 
the  South  has  a  right  to  complain  ?  I  challenge  the  an 
swer.  While,  on  the  other  hand,  let  me  show  the  facts 
(and  believe  me,  gentlemen,  I  am  not  here  the  advocate  of 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  185 

the  North  ;  but  I  am  here  the  friend,  the  firm  friend  and 
lover  of  the  South  and  her  institutions,  and  for  this  rea 
son  I  speak  thus  plainly  and  faithfully,   for  yours,  mine, 
and  every  other  man's  interest,  the   words   of  truth  and 
soberness),  of  which  I  wish  you  to  judge,  and  I  will  only 
state  facts  which  are  clear  and   undeniable,  and   which 
now  stand  as  records  authentic  in  the  history  of  our  coun 
try.     When  we  of  the  South   demanded  the  slave  trade, 
or  the  importation  of  Africans  for  the  cultivation  of  our 
lands,  did  they  not  yield    the    right   for   twenty   years  ? 
When  we  asked  a  three-fifths  representation  in  Congress 
for  our  slaves  was  it  not  granted  ?     When  we  asked  and 
demanded  the  return  of  any  fugitive  from  justice,  or  the 
recovery  of  those  persons  owing  labor  or  allegiance,  was 
it  not  incorporated  in  the   Constitution,  and  again  ratified 
and  strengthened   in  the    Fugitive   Slave  Law  of   1850? 
But  do  you  reply  that  in  many  instances  they  have  violated 
this  compact  and  have  not  been  faithful  to  their  engage 
ments  ?     As   individual  and  local  communities  they  may 
have  done  so  ;    but  not  by  the  sanction  of  Government; 
for    that   has    always   been   true   to    Southern   interests. 
Again,  gentlemen,   look  at  another  fact,  when  we  have 
asked  that  more  territory  should  be  added,  that  we  might 
spread  the  institution  of  slavery,  have  they  not  yielded  to 
our  demands  in  giving  us  Louisiana,  Florida,  and  Texas, 
out  of  which  four  States   have  been  carved,   and  ample 
territory  for  four  more  may  be  added  in  due  time  if  you 
by  this  unwise  and  impolitic  act,  do  not  destroy  this  hope, 
and   perhaps,  by  it  lose   all,  and   have  your  last   slave 
wrenched  from  you  by  stern  military  rule,  as  South  Amer 
ica  and  Mexico  were,  or  by  the   vindictive  decree  of  a 
universal   emancipation,    which    may   reasonably   be   ex 
pected  to  follow.     But,  again,  gentlemen,  what  have  we 
to  gain  by  this  proposed  change  of  our  relation  to  the 
general  Government  ?     We  have  always  had   the  control 
of  it,  and  can  yet,  if  we  remain  in  it  and  are  as  united  as 
we  have  been.     We  have  had  a  majority  of  the  Presidents 
chosen  from  the  South,    as  well  as  the  control  and  man 
agement  of  most  of  those  chosen  from  the  North.     We 


T86          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

have  had  sixty  years  of  Southern  Presidents  to  their 
twenty-four,  thus  controlling  the  executive  department. 
So  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  \ve  have  had 
eighteen  from  the  South,  and  but  eleven  from  the  North ; 
although  nearly  four-fifths  of  the  judicial  business  has 
arisen  in  the  Free  States,  yet  a  majority  of  the  court  has 
always  been  from  the  South.  This  we  have  required  so 
as  to  guard  against  any  interpretation  of  the  Constitution 
unfavorable  to  us.  In  like  manner  we  have  been  equally 
watchful  to  guard  our  interest  in  the  legislative  branch  of 
Government.  In  choosing  the  presiding  Presidents  (pro 
tern.}  of  the  Senate,  we  have  had  twenty-four  to  their 
eleven.  Speakers  of  the  house,  we  have  had  twenty-three, 
and  they  twelve.  While  the  majority  of  the  representa 
tives,  from  their  greater  population,  have  always  been 
from  the  North,  yet  we  have  so  generally  secured  the 
speaker,  because  he,  to  a  greater  extent,  shapes  and  con 
trols  the  legislation  of  the  country.  Nor  have  we  had 
less  control  in  every  other  department  of  the  general 
Government.  Attorney-Generals  we  have  had  fourteen, 
while  the  North  have  had  but  five.  Foreign  ministers  we 
have  had  eighty-six  and  they  but  fifty-four.  While  three- 
fourths  of  the  business  which  demands  diplomatic  agents 
abroad  is  clearly  from  the  Free  States,  from  their  greater 
commercial  interests,  yet  we  have  had  the  principal  em 
bassies,  so  as  to  secure  the  world's  markets  for  our  cotton, 
tobacco,  and  sugar  on  the  best  possible  terms.  We  have 
had  a  vast  majority  of  the  higher  offices  of  both  army  and 
navy,  while  a  larger  proportion  of  the  soldiers  and  sailors 
were  drawn  from  the  North.  Equally  so  of  clerks,  audi 
tors,  and  comptrollers  filling  the  executive  department,  the 
records  show  for  the  last  fifty  years  that  of  the  three 
thousand  thus  employed,  we  have  had  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  same,  while  we  have  but  one-third  of  the 
white  population  of  the  Republic.  Again,  look  at  another 
item,  and  one,  be  assured,  in  which  we  have  a  great  and 
vital  interest ;  it  is  that  of  revenue,  or  means  of  support 
ing  Government.  From  official  documents  we  learn  that 
a  fraction  over  three-fourths  of  the  revenue  collected  for 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  iS/ 

the  support  of  Government  has  uniformly  been  raised 
from  the  North.  Pause  now,  while  you  can,  gentlemen, 
and  contemplate  carefully  and  candidly  these  important 
items.  Leaving  out  of  view,  for  the  present,  the  countless 
millions  of  dollars  you  must  expend  in  a  war  with  the 
North  •  with  tens  of  thousands  of  your  sons  and  brotl 
slain  in  battle,  and  offered  up  as  sacrifices  upon  the  altar 
of  your  ambition— and  for  what  ?  we  ask  again.  Is  it  for 
the  overthrow  of  the  American  Government,  established 
by  our  common  ancestry,  cemented  and  built  up  by  their 
sweat  and  blood,  and  founded  on  the  broad  principles  of 
risht,  ii,  ice,  and  humanity  ?  And,  as  such,  I  must  de 
clare  here,  as  I  have  often  done  before,  and  which  has 
been  repeated  by  the  greatest  and  wisest  of  statesmen  and 
patriots  in  this  and  other  lands,  that  //  is  the  best  and  free- 
est  Government— the  most  equal  in  its  rights,  the  most  just 
in  its  decisions,  the  most  lenient  in  its  measures,  and  the  most 
inspiring  in  its  principles  to  elevate  the  race  of  men,  that  the 
sun  of  heaven  ever  shone  upon.  Now,  for  you  to  attempt 
to  overthrow  such  a  Government  as  this,  under  which  we 
have  lived  for  more  than  three-quarters  of  a  century— in 
which  we  have  gained  our  wealth,  our  standing  as  a  na 
tion,  our  domestic  safety  while  the  elements  of  peril  are 
around  us,  with  peace  and  tranquillity  accompanied  with 
unbounded  prosperity  and  rights  unassailed— is  the  height 
of  madness  Jolly,  and  wickedness,  to  which  I  can  neither 
lend  my  sanction  nor  my  vote. 

Was  there  ever  such  an  indictment  unconsciously  laid 
against  any  people  ?  Here  Mr.  Stephens,  talking  to  peo 
ple  in  Georgia,  quite  unconscious  that  his  speech  would 
be  reported,  that  it  would  appear  in  the  Northern  press, 
and  be  read  in  Exeter  Hall  to  an  English  audience— tells 
you  what  has  been  the  plan  and  what  have  been  the  ef 
fects  of  Southern  domination  on  the  national  policy,  on 
the  Government,  and  on  the  courts  during  the  last  fifty 


1 8  8          HENR  Y  WA  RD  BEE  CHER 'S  SPEE  CHES 

years.  The  object  of  Southern  policy  early  commenced 
and  steadily  pursued,  was  to  control  the  Government  and 
to  establish  a  slave  influence  throughout  North  America. 
Now,  take  notice  first,  that  the  North,  hating  slavery,  hav 
ing  rid  itself  of  it  at  its  own  cost,  and  longing  for  its  ex 
tinction  throughout  America,  was  unable  until  this  war  to 
touch  slavery  directly.  The  North  could  only  contend 
against  slave  policy — not  directly  against  slavery.  Why? 
Because  slavery  was  not  the  creature  of  national  law,  and 
therefore  not  subject  to  national  jurisdiction,  but  of  State 
law,  and  subject  only  to  State  jurisdiction.  A  direct  act 
on  the  part  of  the  North  to  abolish  slavery  would  have 
been  revolutionary.  (A  voice  :  "  We  do  not  understand 
you.")  You  will  understand  me  before  I  have  done  with 
you  to-night.  (Cheers.)  Such  an  attack  would  have  been 
a  violation  of  a  fundamental  principle  of  State  indepen 
dence.  This  peculiar  structure  of  our  Government  is  not 
so  unintelligible  to  Englishmen  as  you  may  think.  It  is 
only  taking  an  English  idea  on  a  larger  scale.  We  have 
borrowed  it  from  you.  A  great  many  do  not  understand 
how  it  is  that  there  should  be  State  independence  under 
a  national  Government.  Now  I  am  not  closely  ac 
quainted  with  your  affairs,  but  the  Chamberlain  can  tell 
you  if  I  am  wrong,  when  I  say,  that  there  belong  to  the 
old  city  of  London  certain  private  rights  that  Parliament 
cannot  meddle  with.  Yet  there  are  elements  in  which 
Parliament — that  is,  the  will  of  the  nation — is  as  supreme 
over  London  as  over  any  town  or  city  of  the  realm. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  !  gg 

Now,  if  there  are  some  things  which  London  has  kept  for 
her  own  judgment  and  will,  and  yet  others  which  she  has 
given  up  to  the  national  will,  you  have  herein  the  princi 
ple  of  the  American  Government — by  which  certain  local 
matters  belong  exclusively  to  the  local  jurisdiction,  and 
certain  general  matters  to  the  national  Government.  I 
will  give  you  another  illustration  that  will  bring  it  home 
to  you.  There  is  not  a  street  in  London,  but,  as  soon  as 
a  man  is  inside  his  house,  he  may  say,  his  house  is  his 
castle.  There  is  no  law  in  the  realm  which  can  lay  down 
to  that  man  how  many  members  shall  compose  his  family 
— how  he  shall  dress  his  children — when  they  shall  get 
up  and  when  they  shall  go  to  bed — how  many  meals  he 
shall  have  a  day,  and  of  what  those  meals  shall  be  con 
stituted.  The  interior  economy  of  the  house  belongs  to 
the  members  of  the  house,  yet  there  are  many  respects  in 
which  every  householder  is  held  in  check  by  common 
rights.  They  have  their  own  interior  and  domestic  econ 
omy,  yet  they  share  in  other  things  which  are  national 
and  governmental.  It  may  be  very  wrong  to  give  chil 
dren1' opium,  but  all  the  doctors  in  London  cannot  say  to 
a  man  that  he  shall  not  drug  his  child.  It  is  his  business, 
and  if  it  is  wrong  it  cannot  be  interfered  with.  I  will 
give  you  another  illustration.  Five  men  form  a  partner 
ship  of  business.  Now,  that  partnership  represents  the 
national  Government  of  the  United  States ;  but  it  has  re 
lation  only  to  certain  great  commercial  interests  common 
to  them  all.  But  each  of  these  five  men  has  another 


HENRY  WARD  BEECIIER'S  SPEECHES 

sphere — his  family — and  in  that  sphere  the  man  may  be  a 
drunkard,  a  gambler,  a  lecherous  and  indecent  man,  but 
the  firm  cannot  meddle  with  his  morals.  It  cannot  touch 
anything  but  business  interests  that  belong  to  the  firm. 
Now,  our  States  came  together  on  this  doctrine — that 
each  State,  in  respect  to  those  rights  and  institutions  that 
were  local  and  peculiar  to  it,  was  to  have  undivided  sov 
ereignty  over  its  own  affairs ;  but  that  all  those  powers^ 
such  as  taxes,  wars,  treaties  of  peace,  which  belong  to 
one  State,  and  which  are  common  to  all  States,  went  into 
the  general  Government.  The  general  Government  never 
had  the  power — the  power  was  never  delegated  to  it — to 
meddle  with  the  interior  and  domestic  economy  of  the 
States,  and  it  never  could  be  done.  You  will  ask  what 
are  we  doing  it  for  now.  I  will  tell  you  in  due  time. 
Have  I  made  that  point  plain  ?  It  was  only  that  part  of 
slavery  which  escaped  from  the  State  jurisdiction,  and 
which  entered  into  the  national  sphere,  which  formed  the 
subject  of  controversy.  We  could  not  justly  touch  the 
Constitution  of  the  States,  but  only  the  policy  of  the  na 
tional  Government,  that  came  out  beyond  the  State  and 
appeared  in  Congress  and  in  the  territories.  We  are 
bound  to  abide  by  our  fundamental  law.  Honor,  fidelity, 
integrity,  as  well  as  patriotism,  required  us  to  abide  by 
that  law.  The  great  conflict  between  the  South  and 
North,  until  this  war  began,  was,  which  should  control  the 
Federal  or  Central  Government  and  what  we  call  the  Ter 
ritories  ;  that  is,  lands  which  are  the  property  of  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  JQ! 

Union,  and  have  not  yet  received  State  rights.  That  was 
the  conflict.  It  was  not  "  Emancipation  '"  or  "  No  Eman 
cipation  ;  "  Government  had  no  business  with  that  ques 
tion.  Before  the  war,  the  only  thing  on  which  politically 
the  free  people  of  the  North  and  South  took  their  respec 
tive  sides  was,  "  Shall  the  National  policy  be  free  or 
slave  ? "  And  I  call  you  to  witness  that  forbearance, 
though  not  a  showy  virtue — fidelity,  though  not  a  shining 
quality — are  fundamental  to  manly  integrity.  During  a 
period  of  eighty  years,  the  North,  whose  wrongs  I  have 
just  read  out  to  you,  not  from  her  own  lips,  but  from  the 
lips  of  her  enemy,  has  stood  faithfully  to  her  word. 
With  scrupulous  honor  she  has  respected  legal  rights, 
even  when  they  were  merely  civil  and  not  moral  rights. 
The  fidelity  of  the  North  to  the  great  doctrine  of  State 
rights,  which  was  born  of  her — her  forbearance  under 
wrong,  insult,  and  provocation — her  conscientious  and 
honorable  refusal  to  meddle  with  the  evil  which  she 
hated,  and  which  she  saw  to  be  aiming  at  the  life  of  Gov 
ernment,  and  at  her  own  life — her  determination  to  hold 
fast  pact  and  constitution,  and  to  gain  her  victories  by 
giving  the  people  a  new  National  policy — will  yet  be 
deemed  worthy  of  something  better  than  a  contemptuous 
sneer,  or  the  allegation  of  an  "enormous  national  vanity." 
The  Northern  forbearance  is  one  of  those  themes  of 
which  we  may  be  justly  proud — a  product  of  virtue,  a 
fruit  of  liberty,  an  inspiration  of  that  Christian  faith, 
which  is  the  mother  at  once  of  truth  and  of  liberty.  I  am 


I92 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


proud  to  think  that  there  is  such  a  record  of  national 
fidelity  as  that  which  the  North  has  written  for  herself  by 
the  pen  of  her  worst  enemies.  Now  that  is  the  reason 
why  the  North  did  not  at  first  go  to  war  to  enforce  eman 
cipation.  She  went  to  war  to  save  the  National  institu 
tions  ;  to  save  the  Territories ;  to  sustain  those  laws, 
which  would  first  circumscribe,  then  suffocate,  and  finally 
destroy  slavery.  That  is  the  reason  why  that  most  true, 
honest,  just,  and  conscientious  magistrate,  Mr.  Lincoln — 
(The  announcement  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  name  was  received 
with  loud  and  continued  cheering.  The  whole  audience 
rose  and  cheered  for  some  time,  and  it  was  a  few  minutes 
before  Mr.  Beecher  could  proceed.)  From  having 
spoken  much  at  tumultuous  assemblies  I  had  at  times  a 
fear  that  when  I  came  here  this  evening  my  voice  would 
fail  from  too  much  speaking.  But  that  fear  is  now 
changed  to  one  that  your  voices  will  fail  from  too  much 
cheering.  (Laughter.) 

How  then  did  the  North  pass  from  a  conflict  with  the 
South  and  a  slave  policy,  to  a  direct  attack  upon  the 
institutions  of  slavery  itself  ?  Because,  according  to  the 
foreshadowing  of  that  wisest  man  of  the  South,  Mr. 
Stephens,  they  beleaguered  the  national  Government 
and  the  national  life  with  the  institution  of  slavery — 
obliged  a  sworn  President,  who  was  put  under  oath  not 
to  invade  that  institution,  to  take  his  choice  between  the 
safety  and  life  of  the  Government  itself,  or  the  slavery 
by  which  it  was  beleaguered,  If  any  man  Jays  an  ob- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

struction  on  the  street,  and  blocks  up  the  street,  it  is  not 
the  fault  of  the  people  if  they  walk  over  it.  As  the  fun 
damental  right  of  individual  self-defence  cannot  be  with 
drawn  without  immorality — so  the  first  element  of  na 
tional  life  is  to  defend  life.  As  no  man  attacked  on  the 
highway  violates  law,  but  obeys  the  law  of  self-defence — 
a  law  inside  of  the  laws — by  knocking  down  his  assailant, 
so,  when  a  nation  is  assaulted,  it  is  a  right  and  duty,  in 
the  exercise  of  self-defence,  to  destroy  the  enemy,  by 
which  otherwise  it  will  be  destroyed.  As  long  as  the 
South  allowed  it  to  be  a  moral  and  political  conflict  of 
policy,  we  were  content  to  meet  the  issue  as  one  of  policy. 
But  when  they  threw  down  the  gauntlet  of  war,  and  said 
that  by  it  slavery  was  to  be  adjudicated,  we  could  do 
nothing  else  than  take  up  the  challenge.  (Loud  cheers.) 
The  police  have  no  right  to  enter  your  house  as  long  as 
you  keep  within  the  law,  but  when  you  defy  the  laws  and 
endanger  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  neighborhood  they 
have  a  right  to  enter.  So  in  constitutional  governments ; 
it  has  no  power  to  touch  slavery  while  it  remains  a  State 
institution.  But  when  it  lifts  itself  up  out  of  its  State  hu 
mility  and  becomes  banded  to  attack  the  nation,  it  becomes 
a  national  enemy,  and  has  no  longer  exemption.  But  it 
is  said,  "  The  President  issued  his  proclamation  after  all 
for  political  effect,  not  for  humanity."  Of  course  the 
right  of  issuing  a  proclamation  of  emancipation  was  polit 
ical,  but  the  disposition  to  do  it  was  personal.  (Loud 
cheers.)  Mr.  Lincoln  is  an  officer  of  the  State,  and  in 


194 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER' S  SPEECHES 


the  Presidential  chair  has  no  more  right  than  your  judge 
on  the  bench  to  follow  his  private  feelings.  He  is  bound 
to  ask  "  What  is  the  law  ? " — not  "  What  is  my  sympa 
thy?"  (Hear,  hear.)  And  when  a  judge  sees  that  a 
rigid  execution  or  interpretation  of  the  law  goes  along 
with  primitive  justice,  with  humanity,  and  with  pity,  he 
is  all  the  more  glad  because  his  private  feelings  go 
with  his  public  office.  Perhaps  in  the  next  house  to  a 
kind  and  benevolent  surgeon  is  a  boy  who  fills  the  night 
with  groans,  because  he  has  a  cancerous  and  diseased  leg. 
The  surgeon  would  fain  go  in  and  amputate  that  limb 
and  save  that  life  ;  but  he  is  not  called  in,  and  therefore 
he  has  no  business  to  go  in,  though  he  ever  so  much 
wish  it.  But  at  last  the  father  says  to  him,  "  In  the  name 
of  God,  come  in  and  save  my  child , "  and  he  goes  in 
professionally  and  cuts  off  his  leg  and  saves  his  life,  to 
the  infinite  disgust  of  a  neighbor  over  the  way,  that  says, 
"  Oh,  he  would  not  go  in  from  neighborly  feeling  and  cut 
his  leg  off."  (Loud  applause.)  I  should  like  to  know 
how  any  man  has  a  right  to  cut  your  leg  or  mine  off  ex 
cept  professionally — (laughter  and  cheers) — and  so  a  man 
must  often  wait  for  official  leave  to  perform  the  noblest 
offices  of  justice  and  humanity.  Here  then  is  the  great 
stone  of  stumbling.  At  first  the  President  could  not 
touch  slavery,  because  in  time  of  peace  it  was  a  legal 
institution.  How  then  can  he  do  it  now  ?  Because  in 
time  of  war  it  has  stepped  beyond  its  former  sphere,  and 
is  no  longer  a  local  institution,  but  a  national  and  public 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  195 

enemy.  (Applause.)  Now  I  promised  to  make  that 
clear:  have  I  done  it?  ("Hear,  hear,"  and  applause.) 
It  is  said,  "  Why  not  let  the  South  go  ?  "  "  Since  they 
won't  be  at  peace  with  you,  why  do  you  not  let  them 
separate  from  you  ?  "  Because  they  would  be  still  less 
peaceable  when  separated.  Oh,  if  the  Southerners  only 
would  go  !  (Laughter.)  They  are  determined  to  stay — 
that  is  the  trouble.  We  would  furnish  free  passage  to 
all  of  them  if  they  would  go.  (Laughter.)  But  we  say, 
"  The  land  is  ours."  Let  them  go,  and  leave  to  the  na 
tion  its  land,  and  they  will  have  our  unanimous  consent. 
But  I  wish  to  discuss  this  more  carefully.  It  is  the  very 
marrow  of  the  matter.  I  ask  you  to  stand  in  our  place 
for  a  little  time,  and  see  this  question  as  we  see 
k,  afterwards  make  up  your  judgment.  And  first,  this 
war  began  by  the  act  of  the  South — firing  at  the  old  flag 
that  had  covered  both  sections  with  glory  and  protection. 
The  attack  made  upon  us  was  under  circumstances  which 
inflicted  immediate  severe  humiliation  and  threatened  us 
with  final  subjugation.  The  Southerners  held  all  the 
keys  of  the  country.  They  had  robbed  our  arsenals. 
They  had  made  our  treasury  bankrupt.  They  had  pos 
session  of  the  most  important  offices  in  the  army  and 
navy.  They  had  the  vantage  of  having  long  anticipated 
and  prepared  for  the  conflict.  We  knew  not  whom  to 
trust.  One  man  failed,  and  another  man  failed.  Men, 
pensioned  by  the  Government,  lived  on  the  salary  of  the 
Government  only  to  have  better  opportunity  to  stab  and 


I96        ttENR  Y  WARb  SEtiCtfER  >S  SPEECHES 

betray  it.  There  was  not  merely  one  Judas,  there  were 
a  thousand  in  our  country.  ("  Hear,  hear,"  and  hisses.) 
And  for  the  North  to  have  lain  down  like  a  spaniel — to 
have  given  up  the  land  that  every  child  in  America  is 
taught,  as  every  child  in  Britain  is  taught,  to  regard  as 
his  sacred  right  and  his  trust — to  have  given  up  the 
mouths  of  our  own  rivers  and  our  mountain  citadel  with 
out  a  blow,  would  have  marked  the  North  in  all  future 
history  as  craven  and  mean.  (Loud  cheers  and  some 
hisses.)  Secondly,  the  honor  and  safety  of  that  grand  ex 
periment,  self-government  by  free  institutions,  demanded 
that  so  flagitious  a  violation  of  the  first  principles  of 
legality  should  not  carry  off  impunity  and  reward,  there 
after  enabling  the  minority  in  every  party  conflict  to  turn 
and  say  to  the  majority,  "  If  you  don't  give  us  our  way 
we  will  make  war."  Oh,  Englishmen,  would  you  let  a 
minority  dictate  in  such  a  way  to  you  ?  (Loud  cries 
of  "  No,  no,  never ! "  and  cheers.)  Three  thousand 
miles  off  don't  make  any  difference,  then?  ("No.  no.") 
The  principle  thus  introduced  would  literally  have  no 
end — would  carry  the  nation  back  to  its  original  elements 
of  isolated  States.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  why  it  should 
stop  with  States.  If  every  treaty  may  be  overthrown  by 
which  States  have  been  settled  into  a  Nation,  what  form 
of  political  union  may  not  on  like  grounds  be  severed? 
There  is  the  same  force  in  the  doctrine  of  Secession  in 
the  application  to  counties  as  in  the  application  to  States 
and  if  it  be  right  for  a  State  or  a  county  to  secede,  it  is 


/V  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  197 

equally  right  for  a  town  and  a  city.  This  doctrine  of 
Secession  is  a  huge  revolving  millstone  that  grinds  the 
national  life  to  powder.  It  is  anarchy  in  velvet,  and 
national  destruction  clothed  in  soft  phrases  and  peri 
phrastic  expressions.  But  we  have  fought  with  that  devil 
"  Slavery,"  and  understand  him  better  than  you  do. 
(Loud  cheers.)  No  people  with  patriotism  and  honor 
will  give  up  territory  without  a  struggle  for  it.  Would 
you  give  it  up  ?  (Loud  cries  of  "  No.")  It  is  said  that 
the  States  are  owners  of  their  territory !  It  is  theirs  to 
use,  not  theirs  to  run  away  with.  We  have  equal  right 
with  them  to  enter  it.  Let  me  inform  you  when  those 
States  first  sat  in  convention  to  form  a  Union,  a  resolu 
tion  was  introduced  by  the  delegates  from  South  Caro 
lina  and  Virginia,  "That  we  now  proceed  to  form  a 
National  Government."  The  delegate  from  Connecticut 
objected.  The  New  Englanders  were  State-right  men, 
and  the  South,  in  the  first  instance,  seemed  altogether 
for  a  National  Government.  Connecticut  objected,  and 
a  debate  took  place  whether  it  should  be  a  Constitution 
for  a  mere  Confederacy  of  States,  or  for  a  nation  formed 
out  of  those  States.  (A  Voice :  "  When  was  that  ? ") 
It  was  in  the  Convention  of  1787.  He  wants  to  help  me. 
(Laughter.)  I  like  such  interruptions.  I  am  here  a 
friend  amongst  friends.  Nothing  will  please  me  better 
than  any  question  asked  in  courtesy  and  in  earnest  to 
elucidate  this  subject.  I  am  not  afraid  of  being  inter 
rupted  by  questions  which  are  to  the  point.  At  this  con- 


1 9g         HEXR  Y  WARD  B&RCttER  VS*  SPEECHES 

vention  the  resolution  of  the  New  England  delegates 
that  they  should  form  a  Confederacy  instead  of  a  Nation 
was  voted  down,  and  never  came  up  again.  The  first 
draft  of  the  preamble  contained  these  words  :  "  We,  the 
people  of  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a 
Nation ; "  but  as  there  was  a  good  deal  of  feeling 
amongst  the  North  and  South  on  the  subject,  when  the 
draft  came  to  the  committee  for  revision,  and  they  had 
simply  to  put  in  the  proper  phraseology,  they  put  it  "  for 
the  purpose  of  forming  a  Union."  But  when  the  ques 
tion  whether  the  States  were  to  hold  their  autocracy 
came  up  in  South  Carolina — which  was  called  the  Caro 
lina  heresy — it  was  put  down,  and  never  lifted  its  head 
up  again  until  this  Secession,  when  it  was  galvanized 
to  justify  that  which  has  no  other  pretence  to  justice. 
I  would  like  to  ask  those  English  gentlemen  who 
hold  that  it  is  right  for  a  State  to  secede  when  it 
pleases,  how  they  would  like  it,  if  the  county  of  Kent 
would  try  the  experiment.  The  men  who  cry  out  for 
Secession  of  the  Southern  States  in  America  would  say, 
"  Kent  seceding  ?  Ah,  circumstances  alter  cases." 
(Cheers  and  laughter.)  The  Mississippi,  which  is  our 
Southern  door  and  hall  to  come  in  and  to  go  out,  runs 
right  through  the  territory  which  they  tried  to  rend  from 
us.  The  South  magnanimously  offered  to  let  us  use  it ; 
but  what  would  you  say  if,  on  going  home,  you  found  a 
squad  of  gypsies  seated  in  your  hall,  who  refused  to  be 
t  jcrtecl,  saying  :  "  But  look  here,  we  will  let  you  go  in  and 


AV  KXGLAND  IN  1863. 

out  on  equitable  and  easy  terms."  (Cheers  and  laugh 
ter.)  But  there  was  another  question  involved — the 
question  of  national  honor.  If  you  take  up  and  look  at 
the  map  that  delineates  the  mountainous  features  of  that 
continent,  you  will  find  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  Alle- 
ghany  ridge,  beginning  in  New  Hampshire,  running 
across  the  New  England  States,  through  Pennsylvania 
and  West  Virginia,  stopping  in  the  northern  part  of 
Georgia.  Now,  all  the  world  over,  men  that  live  in 
mountainous  regions  have  been  men  for  liberty — and  from 
the  first  hour  to  this  hour  the  majority  of  the  population 
of  Western  Virginia,  which  is  in  this  mountainous  region, 
the  majority  of  the  population  of  Eastern  Tennessee,  of 
Western  Carolina,  and  of  North  Georgia,  have  been  true 
to  the  Union,  and  were  urgent  not  to  go  out.  They 
called  to  the  National  Government,  "  We  claim  that,  in 
fulfilment  of  the  compact  of  the  constitution,  you  defend 
our  rights,  and  retain  us  in  the  Union."  We  would  not 
suffer  a  line  of  fire  to  be  established  one  thousand  five 
hundred  miles  along  our  Southern  border  out  of  which, 
in  a  coming  hour,  there  might  shoot  out  wars  and  disturb 
ances,  with  such  a  people  as  the  South,  that  never  kept 
faith  in  the  Union,  and  would  never  keep  faith  out  of  it. 
They  have  disturbed  the  land  as  old  Ahab  of  accursed 
memory  did — (cheers  and  hisses) — and  when  Elijah 
found  this  Ahab  in  the  way,  Ahab  said,  "  It  is  Elijah  that 
has  disturbed  Israel."  (A  laugh.)  Now  we  know  the 
nature  of  this  people.  We  know  that  if  we  entered  into 


WARD  BE  ECKELS 

a  truce  with  them  they  would  renew  their  plots  and  vio 
lences,  and  take  possession  of  the  continent  in  the  name 
of  THE  DEVIL  AND  SLAVERY.  One  more  reason  why  we 
will  not  let  this  people  go  is  because  we  do  not  want  to 
become  a  military  people.  A  great  many  say  America 
is  becoming  too  strong ;  she  is  dangerous  to  the  peace  of 
the  world.  But  if  you  permit  or  favor  this  division,  the 
South  becomes  a  military  nation,  and  the  North  is  com 
pelled  to  become  a  military  nation.  Along  a  line  of 
1500  miles  she  must  have  forts  and  men  to  garrison 
them.  These  250,000  soldiers  will  constitute  the  na 
tional  standing  army  of  the  North.  Now  any  nation  that 
has  a  large  standing  army  is  in  great  danger  of  losing  its 
liberties.  Before  this  war  the  legal  size  of  the  national 
army  was  25,000.  That  was  all ;  the  actual  number  was 
18,000,  and  those  were  all  the  soldiers  we  wanted.  The 
Tribune  and  other  papers  repeatedly  said  that  these  men 
were  useless  in  our  nation.  But  if  the  country  were 
divided,  then  we  should  have  two  great  military  nations 
taking  its  place,  and  instead  of  a  paltry  18,000  soldiers, 
there  would  be  250,000  on  one  side  and  100,000  or 
200,000  on  the  other.  And  if  America,  by  this  ill-ad 
vised  disruption,  is  forced  to  have  a  standing  army,  like  a 
boy  with  a  knife  she  will  always  want  to  whittle  with  it. 
(Laughter  and  cheers.)  It  is  the  interest,  then,  of  the 
world,  that  the  nation  should  be  united,  and  that  it 
should  be  under  the  control  of  that  part  of  America  that 
has  always  been  for  peace — (cheers,  and  cries  of  "  No, 


IN-  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2OI 

no  ") — that  it  should  be  wrested  from  the  control  and  pol 
icy  of  that  part  of  the  nation  that  has  always  been  for  more 
territory,  for  filibustering,  for  insulting  foreign  nations.  But 
that  is  not  all.  The  religious-minded  among  our  people 
feel  that  in  the  territory  committed  to  us  there  is  a  high 
and  solemn  trust — a  national  trust.  We  are  taught  that  in 
some  sense  the  world  itself  is  a  field,  and  every  Chris 
tian  nation  acknowledges  a  certain  responsibility  for  the 
moral  condition  of  the  globe.  But  how  much  nearer 
does  it  come  when  it  is  one's  own  country  !  And  the 
Church  of  America  is  coming  to  feel  more  and  more  that 
God  gave  us  this  country,  not  merely  for  material 
aggrandizement,  but  for  a  glorious  triumph  of  the  Church 
of  Christ.  Therefore  we  undertook  to  rid  the  territory 
of  slavery.  Since  slavery  has  divested  itself  of  its  mu 
nicipal  protection,  and  has  become  a  declared  public 
enemy,  it  is  our  duty  to  strike  down  the  slavery  which 
would  blight  this  far  Western  territory.  When  I  stand 
and  look  out  upon  that  immense  territory  as  a  man,  as 
a  citizen,  as  a  Christian  minister,  I  feel  myself  asked  : 
<cWill  you  permit  that  vast  country  to  be  over-clouded  by 
this  curse  ?  Will  you  permit  the  cries  of  bondmen  to 
issue  from  that  fair  territory,  and  do  nothing  for  their 
liberty  ?  "  What  are  we  doing  ?  Sending  our  ships 
round  the  globe,  carrying  missionaries  to  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  to  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  to  Asia,  to  all 
Africa.  And  yet,  when  this  work  of  redeeming  our  con 
tinent  from  the  heathendom  of  slavery  lies  before  us, 


j 02          JIKXR  Y  IV A RD  B  EEC  HER  *S  SPEECHES 

there  are  men  who  counsel  us  to  give  it  up  to  the  devil, 
and  not  try  to  do  anything  with  it.  Ah  !  independent  of 
pounds  and  pence,  independent  of  national  honor,  inde 
pendent  of  all  merely  material  considerations,  there  is 
pressing  on  every  conscientious  Northerner's  mind  this 
highest  of  all  considerations — our  duty  to  God  to  save 
that  continent  from  the  blast  and  blight  of  slavery.  Yet 
how  many  are  there  who  up,  down,  and  over  all  England 
are  saying,  "  Let  slavery  go ;  let  slavery  go  !  "  It  is 
recorded,  I  think,  in  the  biography  of  one  of  the  most 
noble  of  your  own  countrymen,  Sir  T.  Fowell  Buxton — 
(cheers) — that  on  one  occasion  a  huge  favorite  dog  was 
seized  with  hydrophobia.  With  wonderful  courage  he 
seized  the  creature  by  the  neck  and  collar,  and  against 
the  animal's  mightiest  efforts,  dashing  hither  and  thither 
against  wall  and  fence,  held  him  until  help  could  be  got. 
If  there  had  been  Englishmen  there  of  the  stripe  of  the 
Times,  they  would  have  said  to  Fowell  Buxton  :  "  Let  him 
go  ;  "  but  is  there  one  here  who  does  not  feel  the  moral 
nobleness  of  that  man,  who  rather  than  let  the  mad 
animal  go  down  the  street  biting  children  and  women 
and  men,  risked  his  life  and  prevented  the  dog  from  do 
ing  evil  ?  Shall  we  allow  that  hell-hound  of  slavery, 
mad,  mad  as  it  is,  to  go  biting  millions  in  the  future  ? 
(Cheers.)  We  will  peril  life  and  limb  and  all  we  have 
first.  These  truths  are  not  exaggerated — they  are  dimin 
ished  rather  than  magnified  in  my  statement ;  and  you 
cannot  tell  how  powerfully  they  are  influencing  us  unless 


IN  ENGLAXD  AY  1863.  2O3 

you  were  standing  in  our  midst  in  America  ;  you  cannot 
understand  how  firm  that  national  feeling  is  which  God 
has  bred  in  the  North  on  this  subject.     It  is  deeper  than 
the   sea  ;  it  is  firmer  than   the  hills  ;  it  is  serene   as  the 
sky  over  our   head,  where   God   dwells.     But   it    is  said, 
"  What  a  ruthless  business  this  war  of  extermination  is  !  " 
I    have  heard   it  stated   that  a  fellow  from   America,  pur 
porting  to  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  had  come 
over  to  England,  and  that  that  fellow  had  said  he  was  in 
favor  of  a  war  of  extermination.     Well,  if  he  said  so  he 
will  stick   to   it ;    but    not   in  the    way  in  which  enemies 
put  these  words.     Listen  to  the  way  in  which  I  put  them, 
for  if  I  am  to  bear  the  responsibility  it  is  only  fair  that  I 
should  state  them  in  my  own  way.     We  believe  that  the 
war  is  a  test  of  our  institutions ;  that  it  is  a  life-and-death 
struggle  between  the  two  principles  of  liberty  and  slavery, 
that  it  is  the  cause  of  the  common   people  all  the  world 
over.      We   believe   that   every  struggling  nationality  on 
the  globe   will  be  stronger  if  we  conquer  this  odious   oli 
garchy  of  slavery,  and  that  every  oppressed  people  in  the 
world   will  be  weaker   if   we   fail.     (Cheers.)     The   sober 
.  American  regards    the  war  as  part  of    that  awful    yet  glo 
rious   struggle  which  has  been   going  on   for  hundreds  of 
years  in  every  nation  between  right  and  wrong,  between 
virtue  and  vice,  between  liberty  and  despotism,  between 
freedom  and  bondage.     It  carries  with  it  the  whole  future 
condition   of  our   vast   continent — its   laws,  its  policy,  its 
fate.     And  standing  in  view  of  these  tremendous  realities 


2O4 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER' S  SPEECHES 


we  have  consecrated  all  that  we  have — our  children,  our 
wealth,  our  national  strength — and  we  lay  them  all  on  the 
altar  and  say  :  "  It  is  better  that  they  should  all  perish 
than  that  the  North  should  falter  and  betray  this  trust  of 
God,  this  hope  of  the  oppressed,  this  Western  civiliza 
tion."  If  we  say  this  of  ourselves,  shall  we  say  less  of 
the  slave-holders  ?  If  we  are  willing  to  do  these  things, 
shall  we  say  :  "  Stop  the  war  for  their  sakes  !  "  If  we  say 
this  of  ourselves,  shall  we  have  more  pity  for  the  rebel 
lious,  for  slavery  seeking  to  blacken  a  continent  with  its 
awful  evil,  desecrating  the  social  phrase  "  National  Inde 
pendence  "  by  seeking  only  an  independence  that  shall 
enable  them  to  treat  four  millions  of  human  beings  as 
chattels  ?  Shall  we  be  tenderer  over  them  than  over  our 
selves  ?  Standing  by  my  cradle,  standing  by  my  hearth, 
standing  by  the  altar  of  the  church,  standing  by  all  the 
places  that  mark  the  name  and  memory  of  heroic  men, 
who  poured  out  their  blood  and  lives  for  principle,  I  de 
clare  that  in  ten  or  twenty  years  of  war  we  will  sacrifice 
everything  we  have  for  principle.  (Cheers.)  If  the  love 
of  popular  liberty  is  dead  in  Great  Britain  you  will  not 
understand  us  ;  but  if  the  love  of  liberty  lives  as  it  once 
lived,  and  has  worthy  successors  of  those  renowned  men 
that  were  our  ancestors  as  much  as  yours,  and  whose 
example  and  principles  we  inherit  as  so  much  seed  corn 
in  a  new  and  fertile  land — then  you  will  understand  our 
firm,  invincible  determination — to  fight  this  war  through 
at  all  hazards  and  at  every  cost.  (Immense  cheenngj 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  205 

accompanied  with  a  few  hisses.)  I  am  obliged  for  this 
little  diversion  ;  it  rests  me.  Against  this  statement  of 
facts  and  principles  no  public  man  and  no  party  could 
stand  up  for  one  moment  in  England  if  it  were  permitted 
to  rest  upon  its  own  merits.  It  is  therefore  sought  to 
darken  the  light  of  these  truths  and  to  falsify  facts.  I 
will  not  mention  names,  but  I  will  say  this,  that  there  have 
been  important  organs  in  Great  Britain  that  have  delib 
erately  and  knowingly  spoken  what  is  not  the  truth.  (Ap 
plause,  and  loud  cries  of  "  The  Times  f"  "Three  groans 
for  The  Times  /")  It  is  declared  that  the  North  has  no 
sincerity.  It  is  declared  that  the  North  treats  the  blacks 
worse  than  the  South  does.  A  monstrous  lie  from  begin 
ning  to  end.  It  is  declared  that  emancipation  is  a  mere 
political  trick — not  a  moral  sentiment.  It  is  declared 
that  this  is  the  cruel  unphilanthropic  squabble  of  men 
gone  mad  with  national  vanity.  Oh,  what  a  pity  that  a 
man  should  "  fall  nine  times  the  space  that  measures  day 
and  night "  to  make  an  apostasy  which  dishonors  his  clos 
ing  days,  and  to  wipe  out  the  testimony  for  liberty  that 
he  gave  in  his  youth  !  But  even  if  all  this  monstrous  lie 
about  the  North — this  needless  slander — were  true,  still 
it  would  not  alter  the  fact  that  Northern  success  will  carry 
liberty — Southern  success,  slavery.  For  when  society 
dashes  against  society,  the  results  are  not  what  the  indi 
vidual  motives  of  the  members  of  society  would  make 
them — the  results  are  what  the  institutions  of  society 
make  them.  When  your  army  stood  at  Waterloo,  they 


2o6          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

did  not  know  what  were  the  vast  moral  consequences 
that  depended  on  that  battle.  It  was  not  what  the  indi 
vidual  soldiers  meant  or  thought,  but  what  the  British 
empire — the  national  life  behind,  and  the  genius  of  that 
renowned  kingdom  which  sent"  that  army  to  victory — 
meant  and  thought.  And  even  if  the  President  were 
false — if  every  Northern  man  were  a  juggling  hypocrite — 
that  does  not  change  the  Constitution ;  and  it  does  not 
change  the  fact  that  if  the  North  prevails,  she  carries 
Northern  ideas  and  Northern  institutions  with  her.  But 
I  hear  a  loud  protest  against  war.  Ladies  and  gentlemen, 
Mr.  Chairman — there  is  a  small  band  in  our  country  and 
in  yours — I  wish  their  number  were  quadrupled — who  have 
borne  a  solemn  and  painful  testimony  against  all  wars, 
under  all  circumstances  ;  and  although  I  differ  with  theTn 
on  the  subject  of  defensive  warfare,  yet  when  men  that  re 
buked  their  own  land,  and  all  lands,  now  rebuke  us,  though 
I  cannot  accept  their  judgment,  I  bow  with  profound  re 
spect  to  their  consistency.  But  excepting  them,  I  regard 
this  British  horror  of  the  American  war  as  something  won 
derful.  (Renewed  cheers  and  laughter.)  Why,  it  is  a 
phenomenon  in  itself  !  On  what  shore  has  not  the  prow 
of  your  ships  dashed  ?  What  land  is  there  with  a  name 
and  a  people,  where  your  banner  has  not  led  your  sol> 
diers?  And  when  the  great  resurrection  reVeille  shall 
sound,  it  will  muster  British  soldiers  from  every  clime  and 
people  under  the  whole  heaven.  .(Cheers.)  Ah  !  but  it 
is  said,  this  is  a  war  against  your  own  blood.  How  long 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2O/ 

is  it  since  you  poured  soldiers  into  Canada,  and  let  all 
your  yards  work  night  and  day  to  avenge  the  taking  of 
two  men  out  of  the  Trent?  (Loud  applause.)  Old  Eng 
land  shocked  at  a  war  principle  !  She  gained  her  glories 
in  such  wars.  (Cheers.)  Old  England  ashamed  of  a  war 
of  principle  !  Her  nationalensign  symbolizes  her  history 
— the  cross  in  a  field  of  blood.  (Cheers.)  And  will  you 
tell  us — who  inherit  your  blood,  your  ideas,  and  your 
high  spirits — that  we  must  not  fight  ?  (Cheers.)  The 
child  must  heed  the  parents,  until  the  parents  get  old  and 
tell  the  child  not  to  do  the  thing  that  in  early  life  they 
whipped  him  for  not  doing.  And  then  the  child  says, 
"  Father  and  mother  are  getting  too  old,"  they  had  better 
be  taken  away  from  their  present  home  and  come  to  live 
with  us.  Perhaps  you  think  that  the  old  island  will  do  a 
little  longer.  Perhaps  you  think  there  is  coal  enough. 
Perhaps  you  think  the  stock  is  not  quite  run  out  yet ; 
but  whenever  England  comes  to  that  state  that  she  does 
not  go  to  war  for  principle,  she  had  better  emigrate  and 
we  will  give  her  room.  (Laughter.)  I  have  been  very 
much  perplexed  what  to  think  about  the  attitude  of  Great 
Britain  in  respect  to  the  South.  I  must,  I  suppose,  look 
to  the  opinion  of  the  majority  of  the  English  people.  I 
don't  believe  in  the  Times.  (Groans  for  the  Times; 
groans  for  the  Telegraph.}  You  cut  my  poor  sentence  in 
two,  and  all  the  blood  runs  out  of  it.  (Laughter.)  I  was 
just  going  to  say  that  like  most  of  you  I  don't  believe  in 
the  Times,  but  I  always  read  it,  (Laughter.)  Every 


208          HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER' S  SPEECHES 

Englishman  tells  me  that  the  Times  is  no  exponent  of  Eng 
lish  opinion,  and  yet  I  have  taken  notice  that  when  they 
talk  of  men,  somehow  or  other  their  last  argument  is  the 
last  thing  that  was  in  the  Times.  (Laughter.)  I  think  it 
was  the  Times  or  Post  that  said,  that  America  was  sore,  be 
cause  she  had  not  the  moral  sympathy  of  Great  Britain, 
and  that  the  moral  sympathy  of  Great  Britain  had  gone 
for  the  South.  ("  No,  no.")  Well,  let  me  tell  you,  that 
those  who  are  represented  in  the  newspapers  as  favorable 
to  the  South  are  like  men  who  have  arrows  and  bows 
strong  enough  to  send  the  shafts  3000  miles ;  and  those 
who  feel  sympathy  for  the  North  are  like  men  who  have 
shafts,  but  have  no  bows  that  could  shoot  them  far 
enough.  The  English  sentiment  that  has  made  itself  felt 
on  our  shores  is  the  part  that  slandered  the  North  and 
took  part  with  the  South;  and  if  you  think  we  are  unduly 
sensitive,  you  must  take  into  account  that  the  part  of 
English  sentiment  carried  over  is  the  part  that  gives  its 
aid  to  slavery  and  against  liberty.  I  shall  have  a  differ- 
ent  story  to  tell  when  I  get  back.  (The  assembly  rose, 
and  for  a  few  moments  hats  and  handkerchiefs  were 
waved  enthusiastically  amidst  loud  cheering.  A  voice  : 
"  What  about  the  Russians  ?  ")  A  gentleman  asks  me  to 
say  a  word  about  the  Russians  in  New  York  harbor.  As 
this  is  a  little  private  confidential  meeting — (laughter) — 
I  will  tell  you  the  fact  about  them.  (Laughter.)  The 
fact  is  this — it  is  a  little  piece  of  coquetry.  (Laughter.) 
Don't  you  know  that  when  a  woman  thinks  her  suitor  is 


AY  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2OQ 

not  quite  attentive  enough,  she  takes  another  beau,  and 
flirts  with  him  in  the  face  of  the  old  one  ?  (Laughter.) 
New  York  is  flirting  with  Russia,  but  she  has  got  her  eye 
on  England.  (Cheers.)  Well,  I  hear  men  say  this  is  a 
piece  of  national  folly  that  is  not  becoming  on  the  part 
of  people  reputed  wise,  and  in  such  solemn  and  im 
portant  circumstances.  It  is  said  that  when  Russia  is 
now  engaged  in  suppressing  the  liberty  of  Poland  it  is  an 
indecent  thing  for  America  to  flirt  with  her.  I  think  so 
too.  (Loud  cheers.)  Now  you  know  what  we  felt  when 
you  were  flirting  with  Mr.  Mason  at  your  Lord  Mayor's 
banquet.  (Cheers.)  Ladies  and  gentlemen,  it  did  not 
do  us  any  hurt  to  have  you  Englishmen  tell  us  our  faults. 
I  hope  it  doesn't  do  you  Britishers  any  hurt  to  have  us  tell 
you  some  of  yours.  (A  laugh.)  Let  me  tell  you  my 
honest  sentiments.  England,  because  she  is  a  Christian 
nation,  because  she  has  the  guardianship  of  the  dearest 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  ought  to  be 
friendly  with  every  nation  and  with  every  tongue.  But 
when  England  looks  out  for  an  ally  she  ought  to  seek  for 
her  own  blood,  her  own  language,  her  own  children. 
And  I  stand  here  to  declare  that  America  is  the  proper 
and  natural  ally  of  Great  Britain.  (Cheers.)  I  declare 
that  all  sorts  of  alliances  with  Continental  nations  as 
against  America  monstrous,  and  that  all  flirtations  of 
America  with  pandered  and  whiskered  foreigners  are 
monstrous,  and  that  in  the  great  conflicts  of  the  future, 
when  civilization  is  to  be  extended,  when  commerce  is  to 


2  i  o          HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

be  free  round  the  globe,  and  to  carry  with  it  religion  and 
civilization,  then  two  flags  should  be  flying  from  every 
man-of-war  and  every  ship,  and  they  should  be  the  flag 
with  the  cross  of  St.  George  and  the  flag  with  the  stars 
of  promise  and  of  hope.  Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
when  anybody  tells  you  that  Mr.  Beecher  is  in  favor  of 
war  you  may  ask,  "  In  what  way  is  he  in  favor  of  war  ?  " 
And  if  any  man  says  he  seeks  to  sow  discord  between 
father  and  son  and  mother  and  daughter  you  will  be  able 
to  say,  "  Show  us  how  he  is  sowing  discord."  If  I  had 
anything  grievous  to  say  of  England  I  would  sooner  say 
it  before  her  face  than  behind  her  back.  I  would 
denounce  Englishmen,  if  they  were  maintainers  of  the 
monstrous  policy  of  the  South.  However,  since  I  have 
come  over  to  this  country  you  have  told  me  the  truth,  and 
I  shall  be  able  to  bear  back  an  assurance  to  our  people 
of  the  enthusiasm  you  feel  for  the  cause  of  the  North. 
And  then  there  is  the  very  significant  act  of  your  govern 
ment — the  seizure  of  the  rams  in  Liverpool.  (Loud 
cheers.)  Then  there  are  the  weighty  words  spoken  by 
Lord  Russell  at  Glasgow,  and  the  words  spoken  by  the 
Attorney-General.  These  acts  and  declarations  of  policy, 
coupled  with  all  that  I  have  seen,  and  the  feeling  of  en 
thusiasm  of  this  English  people,  will  warm  the  heart  of 
the  Americans  in  the  North.  If  we  are  one  in  civiliza 
tion,  one  in  religion,  one  substantially  in  faith,  let  us  be 
one  in  national  policy,  one  in  every  enterprise  for  the  fur 
therance  of  the  gospel  and  for  the  happiness  of  mankind, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2 1 1 

I  thank  you  for  your  long  patience  with  me.  ("  Go  on  !  ") 
Ah  !  when  I  was  a  boy  they  used  to  tell  me  never  to  eat 
enough,  but  always  to  get  up  being  yet  a  little  hungry.  I 
would  rather  you  go  away  wishing  I  had  spoken  longer 
than  go  away  saying,  "  What  a  tedious  fellow  he  was ! " 
(A  laugh.)  And  therefore  if  you  will  not  permit  me  to 
close  and  go,  I  beg  you  to  recollect  that  this  is  the  fifth 
speech  of  more  than  two  hours'  length  that  I  have  spoken, 
on  some  occasions  under  difficulties,  within  seven  or  eight 
days,  and  I  am  so  exhausted  that  I  ask  you  to  permit  me 
to  stop.  (Great  cheering.) 

Professor  NEWMAN  then  rose  and  moved  the  follow 
ing  resolution  :  "Resolved, — That  this  meeting  presents 
its  most  cordial  thanks  to  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
for  the  admirable  address  which  he  has  delivered  this 
evening,  and  expresses  its  hearty  sympathy  with  his 
reprobation  of  the  slave-holders'  rebellion,  his  vindication 
of  the  rights  of  a  free  Government,  and  his  aspirations 
for  peace  and  friendship  between  the  English  people  and 
their  American  brethren  ;  and  as  this  meeting  recognizes 
in  Mr.  Beecher  one  of  the  early  pioneers  of  negro  eman 
cipation,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  eloquent  and  success 
ful  of  the  champions  of  that  great  cause,  it  rejoices  in 
this  opportunity  of  congratulating  him  on  the  triumph 
with  which  the  labors  of  himself  and  his  associates  have 
been  crowned  in  the  anti-slavery  policy  of  President 
Lincoln  and  his  cabinet."  (Cheers.)  He  said  that  in 
the  present  state  of  this  controversy  it  was  necessary  that 


2 1 2          HENR  Y  WARD  B  EEC  HER  >S  SPEECHES 

the  English  people  should  see  whether  their  sentiments 
on  slavery  were  still  the  same.  The  people  he  remem 
bered  in  his  boyhood  were  in  great  majority  anti-slavery ; 
and  it  was  but  recently  that  half  a  million  British  ladies 
of  all  classes  sent  addresses  to  the  women  of  America 
deploring  this  terrible  curse.  America  wanted  to  see 
whether  they  were  changed  since  then.  It  was  but  lately 
that  Lord  Brougham  publicly  insulted  the  American  am 
bassador,  Mr.  Dallas,  from  his  excessive  zeal  against  the 
Southern  domestic  institution:  the  wonderful  contrast 
of  that  noble  lord's  recent  conduct  led  many  people,  and 
pre-eminently  their  Northern  brethren,  to  suppose  that 
there  had  been  a  great  change  among  them.  The  writ 
ings  of  such  men  as  Mr.  Carlyle,  the  articles  in  the 
Times  and  of  a  large  portion  of  the  metropolitan  press, 
had  tended  to  induce  the  same  feeling  ;  but  it  was  for 
them  to  show  that  they  still  adhered  to  their  old  anti- 
slavery  views.  The  only  way  to  do  that  was  never  to 
read  those  papers  ;  or  at  any  rate  never  to  pay  for  read 
ing  them.  (Cheers.) 

Rev.  NEWMAN  HALL  seconded  the  resolution.  He 
said  :  Last  evening  I  was  visited  by  a  fugitive  slave. 
Her  intelligent  countenance,  her  modest  demeanor,  her 
clear,  calm,  refined  voice  at  once  interested  me.  I  soon 
learnt  her  history.  Her  owner,  as  I  at  once  guessed,  was 
both  her  father  and  her  master.  (Shame.)  While  she 
was  yet  a  child  she  so  felt  the  cruelties  of  slavery  that 
she  escaped.  She  was  pursued,  tracked  by  bloodhounds, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2  1 3 

brought  back,  and  subjected  to  the  fearful  torments 
which  are  generally  inflicted  upon  a  captured  slave.  She 
was  made  to  marry  early,  and  became  a  mother.  Then 
she  was  employed  as  wet  nurse  to  her  father's  children — 
that  is,  she  suckled  her  own  brothers  and  sisters.  (Sensa 
tion.)  But  the  grief  that  she  felt  most  was  the  selling  of 
her  own  little  girl  at  the  age  of  ten  years.  Then,  as 
child  after  child  was  born,  she  wished  that  child  after 
child  might  die  rather  than  endure  the  cruelties  which 
she  had  suffered.  With  all  the  tender  instincts  of  a 
mother  she  yet  rejoiced  to  see  her  babe  in  the  cradle  of 
death.  She  had  been  taught  to  believe  at  first  that  her 
owner  was  her  God,  and  for  a  time  she  did  believe  that 
her  master  was  God  Almighty.  But  when  she  afterwards 
learned  that  there  was  a  God  in  heaven  she  looked  to 
Him  for  help,  and  resolved  at  any  risk  to  get  away.  She 
fled  to  the  woods,  and  was  soon  pursued,  and  her  master 
was  so  near  her  at  one  time  that  she  heard  him,  when 
hiding  in  the  hollow  of  a  tree,  saying  that  if  he  caught 
her  she  would  never  put  a  step  on  the  ground  again. 
"Surely,"  I  said,  "he  would  not  have  maimed  you?" 
"  No,"  she  said,  "  he  would  have  tarred,  feathered,  and 
burnt  me  alive  " — a  fate  which  many  a  captured 
fugitive  has  undergone  as  an  example  to  others.  For 
ten  days  she  wandered  in  the  woods,  feeding,  or  rather 
starving,  upon  roots  and  leaves,  till  she  was  found 
under  a  hedge,  exhausted,  by  a  good  Samaritan,  a 
minister  of  the  Gospel,  who  assisted  her,  and  got  her 


214 


HENRY  WARD  B EEC  HER' S  SPEECHES 


shipped  in  a  vessel  that  was  going  to  New  York,  and 
thence  to  Calcutta,  from  whence  she  has  come  to  Eng 
land.  On  her  right  ankle  there  is  the  mark  of  the  red- 
hot  branding-iron  put  there  by  her  father,  and  on  her  left 
shoulder  is  the  mark  of  the  red-hot  branding-iron  put 
there  also  by  her  father !  (Shame.)  On  her  wrists  you 
will  see  the  scars  made  by  the  links  of  the  chains  by 
which  she  was  bound  by  her  father,  and  where  the  iron 
gnawed  into  her  flesh !  (Sensation.)  She  bears  the 
mark  of  a  terrible  blow  struck  by  her  father  with  a  heavy 
iron  on  her  side,  which  has  made  her  crooked  and  inca 
pacitated  her  for  hard  work.  It  is  for  the  purpose  of 
maintaining  and  extending  the  liberty  to  exercise  such 
abominations  as  these  over  four  millions  of  their  fellow- 
creatures  that  the  Southerners  are  in  arms.  (Cheers.) 
It  is  for  the  purpose  of  maintaining  a  Government  and 
the  carrying  out  of  laws  which  will  put  a  stop  to  these 
abominations — it  is  now  actually  and  avowedly,  whatever 
it  may  have  once  been,  for  the  purpose  of  sweeping  the 
American  continent  of  such  atrocities  as  these — that  the 
North  is  fighting.  Can  there  be  a  moment's  hesitation 
on  which  side — if  there  is  to  be  a  quarrel — the  sympa 
thies  of  Christian  and  free  England  shall  be  placed  ? 
(Cries  of  "  No.")  There  may  be  and  there  are  differences 
of  political  opinions  among  us,  but  there  is  no  difference 
worth  mentioning  with  reference  to  the  abomination  of 
the  slave  system.  There  are  many  of  our  countrymen — I 
would  have  Mr.  Beecher  take  note  of  it — and  there  may 


/<V  ENGLAfirt)  rN  1863.  2 1  5 

be  some  in  this  meeting,  who  think  that  it  would  have 
been  as  well  that  the  South  should  have  been  let  go  at 
first,  or  that  the  war  having  commenced  and  gone  on  so 
long  it  should  now  cease.  I  give  them  credit  for  being 
as  ardent  haters  of  slavery  as  I  am.  There  are  on  the 
other  hand  those  who  consider  that  if  the  war  were  now 
to  be  brought  to  a  premature  close  the  cause  of  emanci 
pation  would  be  lost,  and  that  more  bloodshed  and  war 
would  ensue  than  if  now  the  battle  were  fought  out.  And 
if  I  give  those  other  gentlemen  credit  for  being  haters  of 
slavery,  I  demand  that  on  our  part  we  shall  have  credit 
for  being  haters  of  war.  But  whatever  differences  of 
political  opinion  there  may  be  amongst  us,  there  is  no 
difference  worthy  of  mentioning  with  reference  to  our 
abhorrence  of  the  system  of  slavery  ;  there  is  no  differ 
ence  of  opinion  in  this  hall  as  to  the  honor  we  would  pay 
to  one  of  the  noblest  and  boldest  champions  of  freedom 
in  the  world.  (Loud  applause.)  And  though  we  are  not 
bound  by  our  principles  to  agree  with  every  word  and 
sentiment  uttered  to-night,  we  do  all  agree  in  heartily 
thanking  the  lecturer  for  his  eloquent  oration  and  the 
assistance  he  has  thus  given  us  to  understand  this  great 
question.  (Renewed  applause.)  We  may  also  say  that 
\ve  agree  in  wishing  him  hearty  farewell  as  a  true  friend 
to  Great  Britain.  We  may  have  misunderstood  America 
— we  shall  henceforth  understand  her  better.  Mr. 
Beecher  may  have  misunderstood  us — he  will  understand 
us  better.  He  is  going  back  to  his  country  to  bear  this 


2 1 6    HENR  Y  WARD  B  EEC  HER 'S  SPEECHES 

testimony,   that  whatever  difference  of  political  opinions 
there  may  be  here,  the  heart  of  Old  England  beats  true 
to  freedom — that  in  spite  of  caricatures  and  leading  ar 
ticles,  the  heart  of  Great  Britain  beats  true  to  America. 
He  will  go  back  to  his  own  country  to  do  there  what  we 
pledge  ourselves  to   do   here — everything   that  will   pro 
mote  harmony  between  the   two  great  nations.     (Loud 
applause.)     He  will  go  home  to  do  what  we   pledge  our 
selves  to  do — discourage  every  word  and  act   calculated 
to    excite    international    irritation   and  discord.     He  will 
go  to  teach   his   countrymen,  as  we    teach   ours,  that  the 
true  alliances  for  the  free  to  make  are  with  free  peoples, 
and    not    with   despotic   emperors   or   czars.     (Renewed 
cheering.)     We  will  both  of  us — they  on  that  side  and  we 
on  this — do  all  we  can  to  promote  true  and  brotherly  love 
between  these  two  great  peoples — do   all  we   can  to  dis 
courage  every  act  or  word  that  may  tend  to  beget  disunion 
between  two  nations  that  are,  as  we  have  heard,  one  in 
blood,  one  in  speech,  one  in    literature,  one   in   freedom, 
one  in  faith — two   nations   over  whose   disunion    I  could 
fancy  hell  from  beneath  would  be  moved  with  exultation, 
while    all  the    tyrannies   on    the   earth  would   clap   their 
hands — (loud  and  prolonged  cheering) — two  nations  over 
whose    indissoluble    alliance    the   heaven-born    spirits   of 
freedom,  civilization,  and  religion  will  sing  rapturous  an 
thems  of  praise  to  God,  beckoning  us  onwards,  as  sworn 
brothers  in  the  van  of  human  progress,  to  share  together 
the  toil  and  to  reap  together  the  divine  honor  of  the  final 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2 1/ 

victory  of  truth,   righteousness,   and  love.       (Immense 
applause.) 

G.  THOMPSON,  Esq.  :  Mr.  Chairman,  ladies  and 
gentlemen, — I  promise  you  that  my  words  shall  be  ex 
ceedingly  few.  Two  "  new  men  "  have  set  you  and  iv.e 
the  example  of  brevity,  and  I,  an  old  man,  will  not  violate 
the  example  they  have  furnished.  I  may,  however,  be 
permitted  to  say  that  it  is  with  more  than  ordinary  in 
terest  I  attend  such  a  meeting  as  this,  when  I  recollect 
that  more  than  nine-and-twenty  years  ago  I  was  laboring 
with  a  handful  of  faithful  men  and  women  in  the  city  of 
Boston,  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  amid  much  obloquy 
and  frequent  danger,  in  disseminating  those  very  truths 
which  are  now  convulsing  and  converting  America — re 
generating  and  establishing  America — and  which  will 
through  many  future  ages,  and  I  trust  centuries,  cement 
together  the  several  parts  of  America,  and  in  no  long 
period  from  this  moment  exhibit  to  the  world  a  continent 
in  which  there  neither  domineers  a  tyrant  nor  crawls  a 
slave.  (Loud  cheers.)  I  can,  from  the  study  and  ob 
servation  of  thirty  years,  during  which  I  have  paid  two 
visits  to  America,  and  held  familiar  intercourse  with 
many  of  the  wisest — certainly  of  the  best — in  that  coun 
try,  and  have  enjoyed  uninterrupted  intercourse  with 
them  by  correspondence  and  the  reception  of  newspapers 
through  the  whole  time, — I  can  bear  my  humble  testi 
mony  to  the  truth  of  all  that,  in  substance  at  least,  Mr. 
Beecher  has  said  to-night.  Let  Mr.  Beecher  know  that 


2 1 8         ttENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

the  heart  of  England  would  have  beaten  in  all  its  pulses 
but  for — whatever  may  have  been  the  motives — the  per 
versities  of  the  truth  which  have  been  steadily  kept  before 
the  public.  Let  Mr.  Beecher  know  that  the  men  through 
out  this  country  who  have  manifested  a  decided  leaning 
towards  the  South  are  men  who  belong  to  two  classes, 
and  two  classes  only — either  the  unteachable,  and  there 
fore  the  ignorant,  or  the  informed,  and  therefore  the  wilful. 
I  have  heard  in  this  meeting  occasional  cries  of  "No." 
Now  I  have  had  an  opportunity,  in  almost  every  part  of 
England,  of  taking  the  amount  of  information  possessed 
by  those  who  at  public  meetings  like  this  shout,  "No, 
no."  If  the  provincial  papers  had  not  to  a  great  extent 
followed  the  example  of  some  members  of  the  London 
press,  Mr.  Beecher  need  not  have  come  to  this  country 
to  know  what  the  opinions  of  the  honest  and  uncorrupted 
millions  of  Englishmen  on  this  subject  have  ever  been. 
Had  the  North  been  disposed  to  pay  the  price  which  the 
South  has  paid,  the  venal  pens  that  have  slandered  the  North 
would  have  been  as  ready  to  magnify  and  exalt  the  North. 
It  comes  within  my  knowledge  that  in  the  city  of  Man 
chester,  where  there  is  a  feeble  imitator  of  a  great  public 
instructor  of  this  metropolis — (A  Voice  :  The  Manchester 
Guardian} — in  that  city  many  public  meetings  have  been 
held,  in  all  of  which,  by  immense  majorities,  and  fre 
quently  with  perfect  unanimity,  resolutions  have  been 
passed  in  favor  of  the  North,  and  approving  and  support 
ing  the  anti-slavery  policy  of  President  Lincoln,  and  in 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  219 

all  the  great  surrounding  towns  similar  meetings  have 
been  held  and  resolutions  passed,  and  yet  that  newspaper 
has  given  no  publicity  whatever  to  the  occurrence  of  such 
meetings — (shame) — while  it  has  blazoned  forth  every 
little  and  insignificant  meeting  held  by  little  knots  of 
Secessionists,  whose  names  until  recently  we  could  not 
by  all  diligence  obtain.  Let  Mr.  Beecher  see  that  while 
this  hall  has  been  crowded,  and  while  thousands  have 
been  gathered  in  the  hall  below,  and  in  the  Strand  and 
neighboring  streets,  and.  while  in  all  the  various  districts 
of  London  and  its  suburbs  there  have  been  multitudinous 
meetings,  always  with  the  same  results,  and  almost  unani 
mous  in  their  support  of  the  North,  only  two  meetings 
have  been  held  in  London — or,  at  least,  meetings  only  in 
two  places — in  support  of  the  South  ;  one  a  meeting 
called  to  hear  a  lecture  from  some  redoubtable  Colonel 
Fuller,  who  volunteered  to  tell  us  all  about  the  question, 
and  the  other  a  meeting  held  up  a  pair  of  stairs  in  Devon 
shire-street,  Portland-place.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  And 
yet  the  Times  and  the  Manchester  Guardian  ignore  the 
occurrence  of  meetings  like  this!  But  what  for?  It 
serves  their  masters  for  the  time  ;  it  pleases  their  patrons 
for  the  time ;  and  it  manages  the  market  for  the  time. 
But  it  will  come  to  pass  on  this  question,  as  it  came  to 
pass  with  regard  to  other  questions  discussed  on  this  plat 
form,  that  the  "brayings"  of  Exeter  Hall  will  become  the 
utterance  of  the  feelings  of  the  English  people.  (Cheers.) 
You  are  asked  to  commend  the  address  of  Mr.  Beecher 


220          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

because  in  it  he  has  rightly  reprobated  the  slave-holders' 
rebellion.  There  are  a  few  Copperheads  in  this  assembly. 
(Laughter.)  I  don't  know  whether  you  all  are  aware 
what  they  are,  and  Mr.  Beecher  could  tell  you  better  than 
I  can.  South  Carolina  is  called  the  Palmetto  State,  but 
beside  having  the  palmetto  for  its  ensign  it  has  also  the 
rattlesnake.  The  rattlesnake  loses  its  skin  every  year 
and  gets  a  new  one — and  I  hope  that  South  Carolina 
will  also  lose  its  skin  and  get  a  new  one — but  while  the 
process  is  going  on  the  rattlesnake  becomes  blind,  and 
the  copperhead  snake  brings  it  the  food  it  requires. 
Therefore  the  people  in  the  North  who  sympathize  with 
the  South  have  got  the  name  of  Copperheads.  (Laugh 
ter.)  Now  if,  on  leaving  this  hall,  you  should  hear  any 
gentleman  finding  fault  with  Mr.  Beecher,  I  do  not  say 
call  him  a  Copperhead — (laughter) — but  you  may  at  any 
rate  suspect  that  he  is  very  nearly  one.  (Great  laughter.) 
Mr.  Beecher  has  said  this  is  a  slave-holders'  rebellion. 
Slave-holders  conceived  it,  and  developed,  and  formed  all 
that  is  vital  and  influential  in  the  Southern  Confederacy. 
Their  President  is  a  slave-holder,  and  if  not  he  was  one 
until  the  advance  of  the  Federal  troops  set  his  slaves  at 
liberty.  The  simple  object  of  the  South  is  to  raise  an 
empire  by  the  subjugation  of  a  weaker  race.  But  I  be 
lieve  that  the  South  will  not  succeed  in  her  criminal  de 
signs,  and  that  notwithstanding  temporary  checks  and 
reverses,  the  Federals,  who  have  been  compelled  to  draw 
the  sword,  will  in  the  end  achieve  the  victory.  And  I 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  221 

earnestly  pray  that  when  the  smoke  of  battle  shall  have 
passed  away,  and  the  tears  have  been  wiped  from  the 
eye  of  every  mourner,  and  when  the  grass  has  begun  to 
grow  upon  the  graves  of  those  who  have  fallen,  universal 
liberty  will  prevail,  and  the  whole  of  America  be  made 
hallowed  ground.  (Protracted  applause.) 

The  motion  was  then  carried  amidst  loud  cheers,  only 
three  hands  being  held  up  against  it. 

The  Rev.  H.  W.  BEECHER  briefly  acknowledged  the 
vote  of  thanks. 

The  Rev.  W.  M.  BUNTING  moved,  and  Sir 
CHARLES  FOX  seconded,  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the 
Chairman,  which  was  unanimously  passed,  and  the  pro 
ceedings  then  terminated. 

OUTSIDE  THE  HALL. 

The  scene  outside  Exeter  Hall  last  evening  was  one  of 
a  most  extraordinary  description.  The  lecture  of  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Beecher  had  been  advertised  to  commence  at 
seven  o'clock,  and  it  was  announced  that  the  hall  doors 
would  be  opened  at  half-past  six.  The  crowd,  however, 
began  to  assemble  as  e*arly  as  five  o'clock,  and  before  six 
o'clock  it  became  so  dense  and  numerous  as  completely 
to  block  up,  not  only  the  footway,  but  the  carriage  way 
of  the  Strand  ;  and  the  committee  of  management  wisely 
determined  at  once  to  throw  open  the  doors.  The  rush 
that  took  place  was  of  the  most  tremendous  character, 
and  the  hall,  in  every  available  part,  became  filled  to 


222  HENK  Y  WA  KD  BEE  CHER 'S  SPEECHES 

overflowing  in  a  few  minutes.  No  perceptible  diminu 
tion,  however,  was  made  in  the  crowd,  and  at  half-past 
six  there  were  literally  thousands  of  well-dressed  persons 
struggling  to  gain  admission,  despite  of  the  placards  ex 
hibited  announcing  the  hall  to  be  "  quite  full."  The 
policemen  and  hall-keepers  were  powerless  to  contend 
against  this  immense  crowd,  who  ultimately  filled  the  spa- 
•cious  corridors  and  staircases  leading  to  the  hall,  still 
leaving  an  immense  crowd  both  in  the  Strand  and  Bur- 
leigh  street.  At  ten  minutes  before  seven  o'clock  Mr  B. 
Scott,  the  City  Chamberlain,  and  the  chairman  of  the 
meeting,  accompanied  by  a  large  body  of  the  committee 
of  the  Emancipation  Society,  arrived,  but  were  unable  to 
make  their  way  through  the  crowd,  and  a  messenger  was 
despatched  to  the  Bow-street  Police-station  for  an  extra 
body  of  police.  About  thirty  of  the  reserve  men  were 
immediately  sent,  and  those,  aided  by  the  men  already  on 
duty,  at  last  succeeded  in  forcing  a  passage  for  the  chair 
man  and  his  friends.  Mr.  Beecher  at  this  time  arrived, 
but  was  himself  unable  to  gain  admittance  to  the  hall  un 
til  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  the  time  appointed  for  the 
commencement  of  his  address.  The  reverend  gentleman 
bore  his  detention  in  the  crowd  with  great  good  humor, 
and  was  rewarded  with  a  perfect  ovation,  the  crowd  pres 
sing  foward  in  all  directions  to  shake  hands  with  him. 
He  was  at  last  fairly  carried  into  the  hall  on  the  shoulders 
of  the  policemen,  and  the  doors  of  the  hall  were  at  once 
closed,  and  guarded  by  a  body  of  police,  who  distinctly 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

announced  that  no  more  persons  would  be  admitted 
whether  holding  tickets  or  not.  This  had  the  effect  of 
thinning,  to  some  extent,  the  crowd  outside.;  but  some  two 
thousand  or  more  people  still  remained,  eager  to  seize  on 
any  chance  of  admission  that  might  arise.  At  a  quarter- 
past  seven  a  tremendous  burst  of  cheers  from  within  the 
building  announced  that  Mr.  Beecher  had  made  his  ap 
pearance  on  the  platform.  The  cheering  was  taken  up 
by  the  outsiders,  and  re-echoed  again  and  again.  The 
bulk  of  the  crowd  had  now  congregated  in  Burleigh-street, 
which  was  completely  filled,  and  loud  cries  were  raised  for 
some  member  of  the  Emancipation  Committee  to  address 
them.  The  call  was  not,  however,  responded  to.  Sev 
eral  impromptu  speakers,  however,  mounted  upon  the 
shoulders  of  some  working-men,  addressed  the  people  in 
favor  of  the  policy  of  the  North,  and  their  remarks  were 
received  with  loud  cheering  from  the  large  majority  of 
those  present.  One  or  two  speakers  raised  their  voices 
in  sympathy  with  the  South,  but  these  were  speedily  dis 
lodged  from  their  positions  by  the  crowd,  whose  Northern 
sympathies  were  thus  unmistakably  exhibited.  Every 
burst  of  cheers  that  resounded  from  within  the  hall  was 
taken  up  and  as  heartily  responded  to  by  those  outside. 
Indeed,  they  could  not  have  been  more  enthusiastic  had 
they  been  listening  to  the  eloquent  lecturer  himself.  This 
scene  continued  without  intermission  until  the  close  of 
the  meeting.  When  Mr.  Beecher  and  his  friends  issued 
from  the  building  they  were  again  received  with  loud 


224 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 


cheers.  A  call  for  a  cheer  for  Abraham  Lincoln  was  re 
sponded  to  in  a  manner  that  only  an  English  crowd  can 
exhibit.  A  strong  body  of  police  were  stationed  in  the 
Strand  and  Burleigh  street,  but  no  breach  of  the  peace 
occurred  calling  for  their  interference.  During  the  even 
ing  a  large  number  of  placards,  denouncing  in  strong 
language  the  President,  the  North  and  its  advocates  were 
posted  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  hall. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  225 


LONDON    FAREWELL    MEETING,    OCTO 
BER  23,   1863. 

THE  first  of  the  series  of  farewell  breakfasts  tendered 
to  Mr.  Beecher  in  the  different  English  cities  in  which  his 
addresses  on  the  American  Rebellion  had  been  delivered, 
was  held  at  Radley's  Hotel,  London,  on  the  morning  of 
October  23,  there  being  present  at  this  initial  gathering 
about  three  hundred  gentlemen.  The  chair  was  occupied 
by  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Baptist  W.  Noel,  who  in  opening 
the  meeting  said  that  they  were  met  to  express  their 
sympathy  with  the  country  of  which  their  guest  was 
a  citizen,  with  the  Government  which  he  upheld,  and 
with  the  great  movement  of  which  he  was  an  ardent  sup 
porter.  Mr.  Beecher  had  been  for  many  years  a  brave 
advocate  of  the  oppressed,  a  manly  patriot,  and  he  had 
shown  during  his  stay  in  England  a  boldness  not  easily 
daunted,  and  a  good  temper  that  no  provocation  could 
disturb.  (Applause.) 

Dr.  F.  TOMKINS,  the  secretary  of  the  Committee  of 
Correspondence,  read  several  letters  from  gentlemen  who 
were  unable  to  be    present,  but  who  wished  to   express 
their  sympathy  with  the  objects  of  the  meeting. 
15 


226          HENR  V  WARD  B  EEC  HER 'S  SPEECHES 

The  Rev.  Dr.  WADDINGTON  read  the  following  ad 
dress  : 

To  the  Christian  Church  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the  Rev. 
Henry    Ward  Beecher : 

DEAR  BRETHREN — At  a  very  numerous  assembly  of 
ministers  and  other  Christian  gentlemen,  held  this  morn 
ing,  to  bid  your  beloved  pastor  an  affectionate  farewell,  it 
was  desired  by  an  unanimous  vote  of  the  meeting  that  we 
should  forward  to  you  the  subjoined  copy  of  an  address 
given  on  the  occasion. 

We  willingly  comply  with  this  request,  and  in  doing  so 
congratulate  you  most  sincerely  on  the  honor  God  has 
put  on  your  faithful  minister  in  his  absence  from  you  by 
strengthening  him  to  bear  the  testimony  which  we  are 
well  assured  will  produce  the  best  effects  in  this  country. 
Your  prayers  have  been  answered  on  his  behalf,  and  not 
many  days  hence  we  trust  you  will  see  him  once  more  in 
Plymouth  Church,  and  hear  from  himself  how  many  mer 
cies  have  been  multiplied  to  him  during  his  temporary 
sojourn  in  Europe.  Continue  your  prayers  for  him,  and 
you  will  yet  see  greater  things.  The  following  is  the 
address  adopted  at  the  meeting  : 

"  SIR, — I  am  requested  by  the  Committee  of  Correspon 
dence  on  American  Affairs,  to  give  a  brief  but  full  ex 
pression  of  the  sentiments  of  fraternal  regard  we  cherish 
toward  our  distinguished  guest,  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Bee 
cher,  and  to  the  deep  sympathy  we  feel  for  his  country 
men,  now  suffering  the  innumerable  calamities  of  civil  war. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  22/ 

"  In  our  opinion,  it  would  have  been  a  matter  for  the 
most  profound  and  lasting  humiliation,  if  Mr.  Beecher 
had  been  denied  fair  and  fitting  opportunity  to  state,  from 
observation  and  experience,  the  facts  so  important  for  all 
to  understand  and  to  weigh  at  this  momentous  crisis,  as 
well  as  to  give  the  freest  utterance  of  his  own  strong  con 
victions.  Partisans  in  any  sense  we  are  not — we  desire 
for  all  parties  a  candid  and  impartial  hearing  ;  but  as 
between  truth  and  error,  right  and  wrong,  liberty  and 
slavery,  Christ  and  Belial,  we  affect  no  neutrality,  the  very 
thought  of  it  is  to  our  minds  perfectly  abhorred. 

"  With  the  history  before  us  of  the  great  moral  conflict 
which  has  continued  in  various  forms  from  the  days  of  the 
Stuarts,  we  cannot  look  on  with  indifference  at  the  Amer 
ican  conflict. 

"We  have  welcomed  our  beloved  and  honored  brother 
to  our  shores — to  the  land  of  Milton,  of  Hampden,  of 
Sydney,  of  Cromwell,  and  of  Russell,  and  we  are  glad 
that  he  has  not  found  in  Old  England  a  mere  asylum  for 
the  dumb. 

"  It  will  ever  be  a  source  of  satisfaction  to  us,  that  in 
London  Mr.  Beecher  met  an  audience  worlhy  of  the  occa 
sion,  and  of  the  speaker,  and  that  the  cordial  and  un- 
bought  sympathies  of  the  people  awakened  in  his  own 
breast  sympathies  that  will  thrill  the  hearts  of  millions  on 
both  sides  of  the  Atlantic  ;  there  can  be  no  doubt  but 
that  the  people  are  in  this  struggle  on  the  side  of  the 
North. 


228          HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER 'S  SPEECHES 

"  For  the  past  thirty  years  we  have  not  had  a  public 
meeting  so  united  and  so  earnest  in  the  manifestations  of 
the  spirit  of  freedom. 

"  We  tender  to  Mr.  Beecher  our  warmest  acknowledg 
ments  for  the  service  he  has  rendered  to  the  cause  of 
truth — of  right  and  of  liberty  by  his  manliness,  high  moral 
courage,  admirable  temper,  clear  intelligence,  sound  argu 
ment,  and,  above  all,  by  the  kindliness  of  his  spirit. 

"  It  is  known  to  us  that  even  those  who  are  opposed  to 
war  under  all  circumstances,  frankly  acknowledge  that 
the  tendency  of  Mr.  Beecher's  public  speeches  in  Man 
chester,  in  Glasgow,  in  Edinburgh,  in  Liverpool,  and  pre 
eminently  in  London,  has  been  to  produce  in  the  highest 
degree  international  good-will. 

"  He  has  sought  not  to  irritate  but  to  convince.  He 
has  administered  rebuke  with  mingled  fidelity  and  affec 
tion.  He  has  been  courteous  without  servility.  He  has 
met  passion  with  patience,  prejudice  with  reason,  and 
blind  hostility  with  glowing  charity.  He  has  cast  the 
seed  of  truth  amidst  the  howling  tempest  with  a  clear  eye 
and  a  steady  hand — the  effect  will,  we  doubt  not,  be  seen 
after  many  days. 

"  We  respond  most  sincerely  to  the  sentiment  so  elo 
quently  enforced  by  Mr.  Beecher,  that  every  human  being 
on  the  face  of  the  globe  has  an  interest  in  the  speedy 
abolition  of  slavery  in  America,  and  that  the  establish 
ment  of  a  slave  empire  would  send  its  withering  blight 
through  all  nations. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 


229 


"  Our  sympathies  are  with  the  four  millions  of  American 
sable  bondsmen,  but  our  interest  in  this  momentous  strug 
gle  arises,  to  a  great  extent,  from  the  desire  we  cherish 
for  the  advancement  of  the  sacred  cause  of  freedom  in 
England. 

"The  precious  heritage  left  to  us  by  our  common 
ancestry,  we  hold  in  trust  for  all  mankind.  We  are 
placed,  therefore,  under  the  most  solemn  obligation  to 
stand  firmly  by  all  right-hearted  men  who  contend  for  the 
full  and  practical  recognition  of  the  rights  of  humanity, 
irrespective  of  color,  clime,  or  social  condition. 

"  In  this  cause  we  recognize  in  Mr.  Beecher  a  faithful 
witness  and  a  true  soldier.  From  the  time  that  he  stood 
up  as  a  youth  to  plead  in  Indianapolis  for  the  liberation 
of  those  who  are  in  worse  than  Egyptian  bondage,  until 
he  confronted  his  opponents  in  Liverpool,  he  has  evinced 
the  sternest  fidelity,  the  most  unfaltering  courage,  with 
the  most  consummate  skill.  Our  estimate  of  the  services 
he  has  rendered,  is  enhanced  by  the  remembrance  of  his 
forbearance  and  moderation  at  many  a  critical  juncture. 
He  urged  the  claim  of  the  negro  years  ago  against  the 
selfishness  of  those  who  would  exclude  him  from  the 
labor  market  in  New  York — and  no  man  has  spoken  in 
more  conciliatory  terms  of  the  misguided  men  of  the 
South,  so  long  as  the  attempt  at  reconciliation,  without 
the  sacrifice  of  principle,  seemed  to  be  possible.  If  the 
energy  of  Mr.  Beecher  is  terrible  in  the  hour  of  conflict, 


230         HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

no  one  knows  better  than  himself  that  "  calmness  hath 
great  advantage." 

"In  the  openness  of  the  rebukes  uttered  by  Mr.  Beecher 
in  this  country,  we  have  the  guarantee  that  he  will  at 
home  stand  to  his  testimony  as  to  what  is  sound  in  the 
heart  of  Old  England. 

"  We  part  with  our  friend  with  sincere  regret — for  we 
find  on  better  mutual  acquaintance,  we  cherish  for  him 
deeper  and  stronger  affection.  But  we  are  willing  that  he 
should  now  go  speedily  to  tell  his  countrymen,  that  we 
are  not  indifferent,  as  some  have  supposed,  to  their  long 
national  agony.  We  pray  that  by  the  interposition  of  the 
unseen  arm  of  Omnipotence,  the  conflict  may  cease  with 
the  removal  of  the  only  cause  of  alienation  and  hostility. 
We  trust  the  day  will  soon  come  when  the  multitudinous 
armies  of  the  North  and  South  can  be  safely  disbanded — 
and  the  march  of  Christian  civilization  will  be  continued 
without  interruption  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific. 

"  For  Mr.  Beecher  we  desire  every  personal,  domestic, 
and  ministerial  blessing — a  safe  and  prosperous  voyage, 
and  that  when  his  family  and  his  church  sing  '  Home 
again  from  a  foreign  shore,'  he  will  not  think  dear  Old 
England  quite  so  foreign  as  some  other  lands.  We  know 
that  when  the  telegraph  signals  his  arrival  in  American 
waters  thousands  will  go  out  to  bid  him  welcome,  and  in 
their  joyful  salutations  they  will  not  regard  our  testimony 
as  impertinent  when  we  say,  that  no  man  could  have 
served  the  cause  we  love  better,  and  that  he  has  said 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  23  I 

nothing  we  could  wish  him  to  retract.  We  adopt  in  con 
clusion  his  own  words  on  the  memorable  2oth  of  October: 
—  '  Let  there  be  one  alliance — if  not  in  form — yet  of 
heart,  sympathy,  and  love  between  parent  and  child — for 
civil  liberty — for  Christian  civilization — for  the  welfare  of 
the  world  which  yet  groans  and  travails  in  pain,  but  whose 
redemption  draweth  nigh.' 

"  With  sentiments  of  fraternal  sympathy  and  the  most 
affectionate  Christian  regard, 

"We  are,  dear  Brethren,  faithfully  yours, 

"  In  the  name  and  on  behalf  of  the  Meeting, 
"BAPTIST  W.  NOEL,  M.A.,  Chairman. 
"BENJAMIN  SCOTT,  F.R.A.S.,  Chamberlain  of 

London,  Treasurer. 

"FREDK.  TOMKINS,  M.A.,  D.C.L.,  Secretary, 
"JOHN  WADDINGTON,   D.D.,   Mover  of    the 

Address. 

"  Radley's  Hotel,  London,  Oct.  23,  1863." 
The   address  was  carried   by  acclamation,  the  company 
standing. 

The  Rev.  H.  WARD  BEECHER,  whose  rising  was 
the  signal  for  protracted  and  enthusiastic  cheering,  replied 
to  the  address  as  follows  :  Mr.  Chairman  and  gentlemen, 
—I  propose  this  morning  to  say  a  good  many  things  on  a 
good  many  subjects,  and  I  am  influenced  in  the  direction 
in  which  I  shall  begin  by  the  request  of  the  esteemed 
brother  who  has  been  pleased  to  honor  me  this  morning, 
and  to  confer  a  favor  upon  me  which  I  shall  never  forget. 


232          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

In  conversation  with  our  chairman  I  made  some  state 
ments  which  he  said  would  have  weight  with  you,  and  I 
therefore  consented  to  make  them  again.  That,  gentle 
men,  is  my  introduction.  (Cheers.)  Now  I  wish  it  to  be 
understood  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  this  Secession  is  re 
bellion,  even  judged  according  to  the  principles  and  pro 
fessions  of  the  South  hitherto.  Let  me  then  go  back  and 
state  generally  that  the  South  as  a  whole  never  has  be 
lieved  in  Secession.  On  the  contrary,  it  has  been  con 
demned  again  and  again  in  all  the  Southern  States  but 
one,  and  has  been  only  held  by  a  small  section  through 
out  the  country.  Until  this  rebellion,  in  fact,  it  has  never 
been  held  that  the  Constitution  gives  the  right  to  a  State 
to  secede.  When  the  Convention  of  1787  came  together 
to  amend  the  Articles  of  the  Constitution,  the  first  thing 
they  had  to  do  was  to  ascertain  what  their  own  power 
was,  and  what  was  the  province  of  their  action,  and  the 
question  arose  whether  they  could  proceed  to  institute  a 
National  Government.  That,  I  believe,  was  almost  the 
first  question  brought  before  them.  After  a  good  deal  of 
debate  it  was  determined,  almost  unanimously,  that  they 
should  proceed  to  make  a  national  Government  as  distin 
guished  from  a  perpetual  Confederation.  And  what  is 
remarkable  is  this,  that  the  proposition  for  a  National  as 
distinguished  from  a  Confederated  Government  was  made 
by  the  delegates  from  Virginia  and  South  Carolina,  and 
it  was  opposed  by  Connecticut  and  some  others — I  forget 
which — of  the  Northern  States.  It  was  debated  thor- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  233 

oughly,  and  the  Northern  proposition  that  we  should  con 
tinue  a  mere  Confederation  in  perpetuity  was  voted 
down  by  an  immense  majority,  and  it  was  voted  in  ex 
press  terms — though  it  does  not  appear  so  verbally  in  our 
Constitution — that  they  should  proceed  to  form  a  National 
Government  in  distinction  to  a  Confederated  Government. 
After  the  resolution  was  passed  it  was  put— like  all  the 
other  resolutions— into  the  hands  of  what  was  called  the 
revising  committee,  and  they,  as  a  kind  of  verbal  com 
promise,  introduced  the  present  phraseology,  putting  the 
words  "Union  "and  "United  States  "  in  the  place  of 
"Nation."  The  change  was  unfortunate,  but  it  was 
purely  the  work  of  the  committee  of  revision,  whereas  £he 
Convention  themselves  had  voted  for  the  word  "  Nation." 
And  there  never  was  any  change  in  that  .until  Mr.  Cal- 
houn's  day ;  but  Mr.  Calhoun's  doctrine  was  repudiated 
in  Virginia  and  Georgia,  and,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  in  every 
one  of  the  South-western  States  it  was  in  a  minority.  It 
was  also  repudiated  by  our  courts,  and  by  the  national 
Government  themselves  it  was  judged  that  nullification 
was  itself  a  nullity.  Therefore,  the  South  in  going  into 
rebellion  has  not  been  following  out  a  doctrine  held  by  it 
from  the  first,  but  has  suddenly  reversed  its  own  princi 
ples,  gone  against  the  records  of  its  own  parties,  and 
dragged  in  this  alleged  right  of  a  State  to  secede,  as  a 
mere  excuse,  against  its  own  records  and  creeds,  and 
against  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
I  have  a  right  therefore  to  say  to  you  as  ministers  of  the 


234          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

Gospel,  as  men  who  believe  in  the  powers  that  be,  and  in 
the  legitimacy  of  unoppressive  governments,  that  this  is 
nothing  more  or  less  than  a  rebellion.  So  much  for  that. 
(Cheers.)  And  now,  my  Christian  brethren,  I  feel  I  have 
freedom  here.  There  are  some  things,  you  know,  that 
one  can  say  in  a  lecture-room  that  one  cannot  say  in  the 
pulpit,  and  there  are  things  which  a  man  can  say  in  a  so 
cial  festival  meeting  of  this  kind  that  he  cannot  say  on  a 
platform  before  a  mingled  audience,  where  he  is  liable  to 
have  a  sentiment  cut  in  two  by  a  hoot  or  a  hiss.  (Laugh 
ter.)  Now  I  want  to  introduce  some  matters  here  that 
would  not  well  suit  a  public  meeting.  I  wish  to  acknowl 
edge  the  many  kind  providences  which  have  attended  me 
at  every  step  since  I  have  been  in  England.  I  go  home, 
not  for  the  first  time  believing  in  a  special  Providence, 
but  to  be  once  more  a  witness  to  my  people  to  the 
preciousness  and  truth  of  the  doctrine  "  God  present  with 
us."  In  ways  unexpected,  and  as  if  the  very  voice  of 
God  had  sounded  in  my  ears,  I  have  been  frequently 
assisted  during  my  sojourn  in  this  country.  When  I  re 
turned  from  the  continent  I  had  not  spoken  in  public  dur 
ing  the  previous  twenty  weeks.  I  began  my  course  by 
addressing  about  6000  people  in  Manchester.  I  then 
went  to  Glasgow,  Edinburgh,  and  Liverpool.  The  recep^ 
tion  I  met  with  at  the  latter  town  was  very  different  from 
the  "  Welcomes  "  of  the  other  centres  of  commerce.  I 
did  not  feel  the  slightest  animosity  towards  the  people  of 
Liverpool.  I  saw  that  those  who  opposed  me  were  merely 


235 

partisans.  (Cheers.)  I  knew  that  the  people  of  Liver 
pool  were  on  the  right  side.  I  remember  that  in  the 
midst  of  the  wild  uproar  at  the  Liverpool  meeting  I  felt 
almost  as  if  a  door  had  been  thrown  open,  and  a  wind 
had  swept  by  me.  I  never  prayed  more  heartily  in  my 
life  than  I  prayed  for  my  opponents  in  the  midst  of  that 
hurricane  of  interruption.  But  it  so  affected  my  voice 
that  a  reaction  came  upon  me  on  Saturday  and  Sunday, 
and  I  was  almost  speechless  on  Monday.  I  felt  all  day 
on  Monday  that  I  was  coming  to  London  to  speak  to  a 
public  audience,  but  my  voice  was  gone ;  and  I  felt  as 
though  about  to  be  made  a  derision  to  my  enemies — to 
stand  up  before  a  multitude,  and  be  unable  to  say  a  word. 
It  would  have  been  a  mortification  to  anybody's  natural 
pride.  I  asked  God  to  restore  me  my  voice,  as  a  child 
would  ask  its  father  to  grant  it  a  favor.  But  I  hoped 
that  God  would  grant  me  His  grace,  to  enable  me,  if  it 
were  necessary  for  the  cause  that  I  should  be  put  to  open 
shame,  to  stand  up  as  a  fool  before  the  audience.  When 
I  got  up  on  Tuesday  morning,  I  spoke  to  myself  to  try 
whether  I  could  speak  and  my  voice  was  quite  clear. 
Many  might  say  this  was  because  I  slept  in  a  wet  jacket, 
but  I  prefer  to  feel  that  I  had  a  direct  interposition  in  my 
favor.  (Cheers.)  Last  night  I  was  saying  to  myself,  "  I 
am  going  among  Christian  ministers,  and  I  should  wish  to 
represent  to  them  the  state  of  things  in  New  York,"  when 
my  servant  brought  to  me  a  letter  from  America,  from  the 
superintendent  of  my  Sabbath-school — my  dear  friend 


236          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

Mr.  Bell,  of  Scotland,  by-the-by,  but  he  is  a  good  man  not 
withstanding.  (Laughter.)  He  said,  "  It  maybe  that  you 
will  have  occasion  to  refer  to  the  report  of  the  committee 
who  inquired  into  the  case  of  the  colored  people  who 
suffered  from  the  riots,"  and  so  he  forwarded  their  report 
to  me.  A  gentleman  who  has  been  my  opponent  for  the  last 
sixteen  years — a  gentleman  who,  because  he  thought  I 
was  opposed  to  the  best  interests  of  America,  hated  me 
with  Christian  fervor — (laughter) — was  appointed  on  the 
committee.  The  testimony  that  he  gave  to  the  committee 
as  to  that  riot  was  that,  with  the  exception  of  a  few 
leaders,  it  was  the  work  of  Irishmen.  The  papers  for 
prudential  reasons,  did  not  put  that  forward  in  New  York. 
It  was  no  more  an  American  riot  than  if  it  had  taken 
place  in  Cork  or  Dublin.  Therefore,  when  misinformed 
persons  in  England  say  this  riot  is  a  specimen  of  what 
Americans  can  do,  I  say  it  is  a  specimen  of  what  can  be 
done  by  foreigners,  and  by  ignorance  and  misrepresenta 
tion.  Some  of  the  most  eminent  names  in  New  York 
are  on  the  committee — many  of  them  devoted  Democrats 
strongly  opposed  to  the  Republican  movement.  They  col 
lected  upwards  of  $47,000  for  the  immediate  relief  oi  these 
poor  blacks.  The  men,  women,  and  children  who  were 
relieved  amounted  to  some  12,000.  A  committee  was 
appointed  at  once  among  the  lawyers  of  New  York,  who 
gratuitously  offered  their  services  to  make  out  the  claims 
of  all  property  of  the  blacks  that  was  destroyed.  There 
were  2000  claimants  who  appeared,  and  their  case  was 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  237 

put  into  legal  train  without  any  expense  to  themselves. 
(Cheers.)  The  aggregate  of  their  claims  in  the  city  of 
New  York  was  145,000  dollars.  The  committee's  report 
contains  the  following  account  of  the  martyrdom  of  a 
poor  black  child  during  the  riots  : — 

Early  in  the  month  of  May  a  boy  of  some  seven  sum 
mers  presented  himself  for  admission  to  the  Sunday- 
school  of  the  Church  of  the  Mediator  in  this  city.  From 
the  first  Sunday  he  was  the  object  of  special  interest  on 
the  part  of  both  his  pastor  and  teacher.  Always  punctual 
in  his  attendance,  tidy  in  appearance,  and  eager  to  learn, 
he  soon  won  the  affection  of  all  his  fellows  in  the  infant- 
class  to  which  he  belonged.  But  though  comely,  he  was 
black.  The  prejudice  which  his  color  excited  amongst 
those  of  meaner  mould  he  quickly  disarmed  by  his  quiet, 
respectful,  Christian  manner.  He  was  a  child-Christian. 
What  more  lovely  is  there  on  earth  !  What  more  highly 
esteemed  is  there  in  heaven  !  Little  did  those  who  thus 
casually  met  him  from  Sunday  to  Sunday  imagine  the 
witness  of  suffering  God  had  purposed  to  perfect  in  him  ! 
At  the  time  of  the  late  riot  he  was  living  with  an  aged 
grandmother  and  widowed  mother  at  No. —  East  28th 
Street.  On  Wednesday  morning  of  that  fearful  week  a 
crowd  of  ruffians  gathered  in  the  neighborhood  deter 
mined  on  a  work  of  plunder  and  death.  They  stole 
everything  they  could  carry  with  them,  and,  after  threat 
ening  and  affrighting  the  inmates,  set  fire  to  the  house. 
The  colored  people,  who  had  the  sole  occupancy  of  the 
building,  were  forced  in  confusion  into  the  midst  of  the 
gathering  crowd.  And  then  the  child  was  separated  from 
his  guardians.  He  was  alone  among  lions.  But  ordinary 
humanity,  common  decency,  had  exempted  a  child  so 
young  anywhere  from  brutality.  But  no.  No  sooner  did 
they  see  his  unprotected,  defenceless  condition  than  a 
company  of  fiendish  men  surrounded  him.  They  seized 
him  in  their  fury,  and  beat  him  with  sticks,  and  bruised 
him  with  heavy  cobble-stones.  But  one,  tenfold  more  the 


238  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

servant  of  Satan  than  the  rest,  rushed  at  the  child,  and 
with  the  stock  of  a  pistol  struck  him  on  the  temple  and 
felled  him  to  the  ground.  A  noble  young  fireman — God 
bless  the  firemen  for  their  manly  deeds — a  noble  young 
fireman  by  the  name  of  M'Govern  instantly  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  single-handed  held  the  crowd  at  bay.  Tak 
ing  the  wounded  and  unconscious  boy  in  his  arms,  he 
went  to  the  house  of  an  American  citizen  close  by  and 
asked  to  have  him  received.  But  on  her  knees  the 
woman  begged  him  not  to  leave  the  dying  sufferer  with 
her,  "  lest  the  mob  should  tear  her  to  pieces."  It  was  a 
suffering  Saviour  in  the  person  of  His  humblest  child. 
Naked  and  wounded,  and  a  stranger,  they  took  him  not 
in.  But  a  kind-hearted  German  woman  made  him  a 
sharer  of  her  poverty.  With  more  than  a  mother's  care 
did  she  nurse  the  forsaken  one.  A  physician  was  called 
and  both  night  and  day  she  faithfully  watched  over  the 
bed  of  him  outcast  from  his  brethren.  Our  hearts  bless 
her  for  her  goodness  to  our  child.  By  name  she  is  as  yet 
unknown,  but  by  her  deeds  well  known  and  well  beloved. 
His  distracted  mother  found  her  cherished  boy  in  these 
kind  hands.  And  when  she  saw  him,  in  the  earnest  sim 
plicity  of  her  spirit  she  kneeled  in  prayer  to  thank  God 
for  the  fulfilment  of  His  promise.  "  God  hath  taken  him 
up."  The  lad  lingered  until  Thursday  evening,  when  the 
Saviour  released  him  from  his  sufferings  ;  and  "  the  child 
was  caught  up  to  God  and  the  throne."  This  is  the  pas 
tor's  memorial  to  little  Joseph  Reed,  a  martyr  by  the 
brutality  and  inhumanity  of  men  to  the  cause  of  law,  and 
order,  and  right.  A  tablet  to  his  memory  shall  be  placed 
on  the  walls  of  the  Sunday-school  room  to  which  he  loved 
to  come.  Those  who  were  kind  to  him  we  count  as  bene 
factors  to  us.  May  the  God  of  all  grace  richly  reward 
them  with  the  blessings  of  His  love.  Buried  on  earth 
without  prayer,  but  with  praises  welcomed  in  Heaven, 
the  chosen  loved  child  of  the  family  "  Joseph  is  not." 

The  colored  people   sent  in  their  thanks  to  the  com 
mittee.     There   are  blacks  who  can  write    as   beautiful 


AV  A. \  (//..•/. \/->  J\   (863.  330 

English  as  the  white  people  of  America,  and  amongst 
the  blacks  there  are  men  as  high-minded  as  any  to  be 
found  among  white  men.  Some  people  have  said  that 
blacks  are  the  connecting  link  between  monkeys  and 
white  men.  Well,  if  monkeys  have  endowments  such  as 
I  have  seen  in  black  men,  all  I  can  say  is,  that  it  is  time 
to  begin  preaching  the  Gospel  to  monkeys.  (Laughter.) 
Take  as  an  example  of  their  intelligence  the  following 
address  : — 

Gentlemen, — We  have  learned  that  you  have  decided 
this  day  to  bring  to  a  close  the  general  distribution 
of  the  funds  so  liberally  contributed  by  the  mer 
chants  of  New  York  and  others  for  the  relief  of  the 
colored  sufferers  of  the  late  riots,  which  have  recently 
disgraced  our  city.  We  cannot  in  justice  to  our  feelings 
permit  your  benevolent  labors  to  terminate,  even  partially, 
without  ofteiing  some  expression  of  our  sincere  gratitude 
to  the  Universal  Father  for  inspiring  your  hearts  with 
that  spirit  of  kindness  of  which  we  have  been  the  recip 
ients  during  the  severe  trials  and  persecutions  through 
which  we  have  passed.  When  in  the  pursuit  of  our 
peaceful  and  humble  occupations  we  had  fallen  among 
thieves,  who  stripped  us  of  our  raiment  and  had  wounded 
us,  leaving  many  of  us  half  dead,  you  had  compassion  on 
us.  You-  bound  up  our  wounds,  and  poured  in  the  oil 
and  wine  of  Christian  kindness,  and  took  care  of  us. 
You  hastened  to  express  your  sympathy  for  those  whose 
fathers,  husbands,  sons,  and  brothers  had  been  tortured 
and  murdered.  You  also  comforted  the  aching  hearts  of 
our  widowed  sisters,  and  soothed  the  sorrows  of  orphan 
children.  We  were  hungry  and  you  fed  us.  We  were 
thirsty  and  you  gave  us  drink.  We  were  made  as  strang 
ers  in  our  own  homes  and  you  kindly  took  us  in.  We 
were  naked  and  you  clothed  us.  We  were  sick  and  you 
visited  us.  We  were  in  prison  and  you  came  unto  us. 


240          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

Gentlemen, — this  generation  of  our  people  will  not,  can 
not  forget    the   dreadful   scenes   to 'which   we  allude,  nor 
will  they  forget  the  noble  and  spontaneous  exhibition  of 
charity  which  they  excited.     The  former  will  be  referred 
to  as  one  of  the  dark  chapters  of  our  history  in  the  Em 
pire  State,  and  the  latter  will  be  remembered  as  a  bright 
and  glorious  page  in  the  records  of  the  past.     In  the  light 
of  public  opinion  we  feel  ourselves  lo  be  among  the  least 
in  this  our  native  land,  and  we  therefore  earnestly  pray 
that  in  the  last  great  day  the  King  may  say  to  you  and  to 
all  who  have  befriended  us,  "  Inasmuch  as  you  have  clone 
it  to  one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren  you  have  done 
it  unto   me ;  come   ye,  blessed   of  my  father,  inherit  the 
kingdom  prepared   for  you   from   the  foundation   of   the 
world."     But  as  great  as  have  been  the  benefits  that  we 
have  received  from  your  friendly  and  unlooked-for  charity, 
they  yet  form   but  the   smaller  portion  of  the  ground  of 
our  gratitude   and   pleasure.     We   have  learned   by  your 
treatment    of    us    in    these    days    of    our    mental    and 
physical  affliction    that   you    cherished    for   us    a   kindly 
and    humane    feeling   of   which   we    have  no  knowedge. 
You      did     not     hesitate     to      come     forward     to     our 
relief    amid    the    threatened    destruction    of    your    own 
lives  and  property.     You   obeyed   the  noblest  dictates  of 
the  human  heart,  and    by  your  generous   moral   courage 
you  rolled  back  the   tide    of  violence   that  had  well-nigh 
swept  us  away.     This  ever  memorable  and  magnanimous 
exhibition  of  heroism  has  had  the  effect  to  enlarge  in  our 
bosoms   the  sentiment  of  undying  regard  and  esteem  for 
you  and  yours.     In  time  of  war  or  peace,  in  prosperity  or 
in  adversity,  you   and   our  great  State   and  our  beloved 
country  may  count  us  among  your  faithful  friends,  and  the 
proffer  of  our  labors  and  our  lives   shall  be  our  pleasure 
and  our  pride.     If  in  your  temporary  labors  of  Christian 
philanthropy,  you  have  been  induced  to  look  forward  to 
our  future  destiny  in  this  our  native  land,  and  to  ask  what 
is  the  best  thing  we  can  do  for  the  colored  people — this 
is  our  answer.      Protect  us  in  our  endeavors  to  obtain  an 
honest  living.     Suffer  no  one  to  hinder  us  in  any  depart- 


AV  EXGLAND  IN  1863.  241 

inent  of  well-directed  industry,  give  us  a  fair  and  open 
field,  and  let  us  work  out  our  own  destiny,  and  we  ask  no 
more.  We  cannot  conclude  without  expressing  our  grati 
fication  at  the  manner  in  which  the  arduous  and  perplex 
ing  duties  of  your  office  have  been  conducted  ;  we  shall 
never  forget  the  Christian  and  gentlemanly  bearing  of 
your  esteemed  secretary,  Mr.  Vincent  Colyer,  who  on  all 
occasions  impressed  even  the  humblest  with  the  belief 
that  he  knew  and  felt  he  was  dealing  with  a  crushed  and 
heart-broken  people.  We  also  acknowledge  the  uniform 
kindness  and  courtesy  that  has  characterized  the  conduct 
of  all  the  gentlemen  in  the  office  in  the  discharge  of  their 
duties.  We  desire  likewise  to  acknowledge  the  valuable 
services  contributed  by  the  gentlemen  of  the  legal  profes 
sion,  who  have  daily  been  in  attendance  at  the  office  to 
make  out  the  claims  of  the  sufferers  free  of  charge.  In 
the  name  of  the  people  we  return  thanks  to  all.  In  con 
clusion,  permit  us  to  assure  you'  that  we  will  never  cease 
to  pray  to  God  for  your  prosperity,  and  that  of  every 
donor  to  the  Relief  Fund.  Also  for  the  permanent  peace 
of  our  country,  based  upon  liberty,  and  the  enjoyment  of 
man's  inalienable  rights,  for  the  preservation  of  the 
American  Union,  and  for  the  reign  of  that  righteousness 
in  the  hearts  of  the  people  that  saves  from  reproach  and 
exalteth  the  nation. 


Let  this  document  be  an  answer  to  the  harsh  things  that 
some  people  have  said  of  the  colored  people  in  Xew 
York.  I  regard  my  reception  of  this  document  last  night 
as  Providential,  because  it  reached  me  just  in  time  to 
read  to  this  meeting.  I  should  have  wished,  had  the 
time  permitted,  to  make  a  statement  respecting  what  is 
doing  for  colored  people  in  South  Carolina,  and  in  and 
about  Norfolk.  I  have  a  son  in  the  army,  who  has  had 
an  opportunity  of  seeing  something  in  that  respect.  In 
16 


242 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER 'S  SPEECHES 


schools,  attended  by  thousands  of  colored  people,  adult 
and  young,  education  is  given  without  fee  or  reward  by 
highly  educated  and  pious  men  and  women.  My  son 
has  narrated  to  me  many  beautiful  testimonies  of  the  piety 
of  the  old  colored  people  who  attend  these  schools,  and 
the  great  interest  they  take  in  the  education  of  the  young 
colored  people.  One  old  colored  saint  with  white  hair 
made  some  remarks  to  him  which  struck  me  very  much. 
He  said,  "  We  shall  never  get  any  good  by  this  education, 
massa  •  we  expect  to  suffer  as  long  as  we  live  ;  but  our 
children  will  get  the  benefit  of  this  education.'1  Now, 
think  of  this  old  saint  having  passed  his  life  in  slavery, 
and  being  in  a  position  in  which,  had  his  master  lived,  he 
would  have  had  a  refuge  for  his  old  age.  Think  of  him 
now  thrown  out  in  his  old  age,  in  a  state  of  liberty,  it  is 
true,  but  with  powers  ill  qualified  to  use  it,  saying,  "  We 
have  been  praying  for  this  all  our  lives,  and  now  our 
children  are  going  to  get  it."  (Cheers.)  I  cannot  go 
into  details  respecting  the  state  of  the  freedmen  along 
the  valley  of  the  Mississippi  ;  but  I  may  say  this  compre 
hensively,  that  the  churches  of  the  North  are  taking  up 
their  burden  and  awakening  to  their  duty.  They  under 
stand  what  is  required  of  them,  and  are  determined  not 
to  let  the  men  come  out  of  slavery  and  feel  that  they  are 
worse  off  than  when  they  were  in  it.  I  don't  pretend  to 
say  that  our  people  have  not  made  mistakes  and  blun 
ders  ;  but,  judging  by  the  ordinary  manner  in  which  per 
sons  in  difficult  circumstances  conduct  themselves,  I  do 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  243 

say  that  the  Christian  churches  in  America  of  all  denomi 
nations  are  stirred  up  by  the  spirit  of  their  Master  to  do 
their  duty  to  the  colored  men  of  the  North  and  South.  I 
now  proceed  to  another  topic  that  is  very  pleasant  to  me. 
I  want  you  to  see  how  American  Christians  and  ministers 
have  felt  during  the  whole  of  this  war.  I  have  here  an 
immense  amount  of  matter — (spreading  out  a  number  of 
printed  sheets  and  cuttings  from  newspapers  on  the  ta 
ble) — and  if  you  don't  believe  me,  I  will  read  it  all  to  you. 
(Laughter.)  I  shall  first  read  extracts  from  the  reports 
of  various  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  America  in  1861,  the 
first  year  of  the  war.  I  have  not  packed  or  garbled  them 
— indeed,  they  have  not  been  put  together  by  me,  but  by 
a  friend  in  Manchester.  I  may  read  perhaps  those  which 
are  least  to  the  point ;  but  I  want  you  to  see  what  has 
been  the  feeling  of  our  Christian  churches.  I  also  want 
to  show  you  another  thing.  Many  of  you  are  opposed  to 
war.  Now  I  must  say  that  for  any  Englishman  to  be  op 
posed  on  principle  to  war  is  a  greater  mark  of  sincerity 
and  frankness  than  anything  I  know  of.  (Laughter.) 
You  Englishmen  are  always  fighting.  Why,  you  have  two 
wars  on  hand  now,  and  I  hardly  know  the  time  when  you 
have  not  had  one.  The  testimony  therefore  of  those  of 
you  who  are  opposed  to  war  is  worthy  of  double  atten 
tion.  ("  Hear*,"  and  laughter.)  But  really  you  talk  to  us 
in  America  about  war  as  though  it  were  about  as  pleasant 
to  us  as  a  campaign  by  the  sea-side  ;  as  though  it  were 
nothing  to  us  to  have  our  sons  killed,  or  brought  home 


244          HENRY  WARD  BE  EC  HE  R  'S  SPEECHES 

wounded  or  maimed,  or  to  have  a  widow  coming  home  to 
her  father's  house  with  her  helpless  children.  Some  peo 
ple  seem  to  think  that  the  North  is  in  such  a  savage  fury, 
that  nothing  tickles  them  more  than  to  hear  of  the 
slaughter  of  3000  or  4000  men.  Oh,  gentlemen,  war  is 
more  terrible  by  far  than  anything  which  comes  home  to 
you.  You  who  send  your  armies  to  China  to  fight,  or  to 
the  Continent,  do  not  see  what  war  is.  Let  war  ravage 
your  own  island, — let  it  come  upon  London,  and  pene 
trate  into  your  own  homes,  while  the  wounded  and  maimed 
are  lying  around  you  on  every  side,  or  brought  into  your 
houses, — then  you  will  realize  what  war  is.  Do  you  sup 
pose,  brethren,  that  we  love  the  war  for  itself?  Do  you 
suppose  that  anything  but  the  very  strongest  principle 
could  lead  us  to  submit  to  it  ?  I  do  not  wish  you  to  ac 
cept  these  statements  on  my  testimony,  but  will  read  to 
you  a  few  extracts  which  will  show  you  how  these  matters 
were  talked  about  in  1861.  The  following  is  from  the  re 
port  adopted  by  Ripley  Presbytery  : — 


More  than  two  hundred  years  have  passed  away  since 
the  buying  and  selling  of  human  beings  as  property  com 
menced  in  this  country,  and  the  slave  trade  was  allowed 
to  be  continued  twenty  years  after  the  formation  of  the 
National  Constitution.  What  a  system  of  murder ! 
What  multitudes  have  been  murdered  in  procuring  slaves 
in  Africa !  How  vast  the  number  that  died  in  the  pas 
sage  to  this  country  !  How  much  death  has  been  occa 
sioned  by  change  of  climate,  by  excessive  labor,  by 
starvation,  and  by  direct  violence  and  cruel  scourging  ! 
Have  not  millions  of  human  beings  suffered  death  in  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  245 

most  horrible  forms,  under  the  operation  of  the  system  of 
slavery  in  this  country  during  the  last  200  years?  Does 
not  the  blood  of  millions  lie  upon  this  nation  ? 

The  report  goes  on  to  make  an  attack  on  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law,  and  to  enunciate  the  OBLIGATION  of  the  Gov 
ernment  TO  PROTECT  the  four  millions  or  more  of  colored 
people,  and  to  SECURE  THEIR  RIGHTS  in  accordance  with 
the  spirit  of  the  Constitution.  It  then  says  : — 

We  now  enter  our  solemn  protest  against  all  compro 
mises  with  the  mo?istrous  system  of  oppression  existing  in  the 
slave-holding  States,  and  the  enforcement  of  the  barbarous 
Fugitive  Slave  Law,  and  the  giving  of  aid  in  any  form  to 
the  system  of  slavery, 

The  following  is  from  the  report  of  the  Maine  Conference 
in  May,  1861  (after  Mr.  Lincoln's  call  for  armed  sup 
port)  :— 

Resolved, — that  we  will  not  cease  to  pray  that  Divine 
wisdom  may  guide  our  rulers — that  the  Lord  God  of  Sab- 
baoth  may  give  success  to  our  arms  and  establish  the 
right — that  our  sons  and  brothers  who  have  so  nobly  re 
sponded  to  the  call  of  their  country  in  this  hour  of  peril, 
may  be  under  His  peculiar  care — that  we  will  supplicate 
God  to  interpose,  to  overrule,  that  these  trying  events 
may  speedily  result  in  permanent  peace — the  liberation  of 
the  enslaved,  and  the  "  opening  of  the  prison  to  them  that 
are  bound." 

I  turn  now  to  the  session  of  the  General  Association  held 
in  Indianapolis,  my  old  home.  I  will  give  only  one  reso 
lution  : —  *$ 

Resolved, — That  as  Christian  men,  having  a  living  faith 
in  the  superintending"  providence  of  Almighty  God,  we 


246 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


recommend  the  churches  to  be  more  instant  in  prayer  for 
the  maintenance  of  the  Government,  the  integrity  of  the 
Union,  the  perpetuity  of  those  principles  of  liberty  upon 
which  it  is  founded,  not  forgetting  those  in  bonds  as 
bound  with  them,  and  especially  for  the  preservation  and 
spiritual  welfare  of  those  who  have  volunteered  in  defence 
of  their  country. 

Now  I  turn  to  the  General  Association  of  Congregational 
churches  of  Illinois: — 

Resolved, — That  as  the  war  is  but  the  ripe  and  bitter 
fruit  of  slavery,  we  trust  the  American  people  will  demand 
that  it  shall  result  in  relieving  our  country  entirely  and 
forever  of  that  sin  and  curse,  that  the  future  of  our  na 
tion  may  never  again  be  darkened  by  a  similar  night  of 
treason. 

Then  follows  a  resolution  urging  the  churches  to  attend 
to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the  army.  Here  is  a  resolution 
from  the  Welsh  Congregational  churches  : — 

Resolved, — That  we  hope  and  pray  (hat  God  in  His 
wise  and  beneficent  providence  may  overrule  the  present 
disturbances  in  our  country  to  hasten  the  overt/irow  of 
slavery,  which  disgraces  our  land  and  threatens  the  exist 
ence  of  our  Government. 

One  from  Pennsylvania: — 

Resolved, — That  we  regard  the  war  in  which  our  coun 
try  is  now  engaged  as  a  conflict  between  freedom  and 
slavery,  and  the  advocates  of  slavery  have  tendered  the 
issue,  and  it  is  the  duty  of  the  friends  of  liberty  both  in 
the  Church  and  in  the  State,  to  accept  the  issue  directly, 
and  give  it  the  prominence  before  God  and  the  world 
that  rightfully  belongs  to  it. 


IN  ENGLAXD  IN  1863.  247 

These  resolutions,  you  will  mark,  were  all  passed  before 
the  proclamation  of  emancipation.  The  following  is  from 
the  General  Association  of  Congregational  churches  in 
New  York  : — 

Whereas,  the  immediate  occasion  of  this  rebellion  and  its 
fomenting  spirit  was  the  determination  of  its  leaders  to  se 
cure  and  perpetuate  the  system  of  slavery ;  and,  whereas, 
there  can  be  no  guarantee  of  peace  and  prosperity  in 
the  Union  while  slavery  exists, — therefore,  Resolved, 
That  we  rejoice  in  every  act  and  declaration  of  the  Gov 
ernment  that  brings  freedom  to  any  of  the  enslaved,  and 
earnestly  hope  for  some  definite  and  reliable  measure /#;- 
the  abolition  of  slavery  as  the  conclusion  of  this  great  con 
flict  for  the  support  of  the  Government  and  the  Union. 
Whereas  in  His  good  providence  God  has  opened  the  way 
for  the  emancipation  of  the  enslaved  in  this  land,  either 
by  the  instructions  of  the  Government  to  military  com 
manders  to  enfranchise  all  slaves  within  their  several  dis 
tricts,  or  by  general  proclamation  of  the  President,  or  by 
Act  of  Congress  under  the  state  of  war — therefore, — Re 
solved,  That  it  is  our  duty  as  Christian  patriots  in  all 
proper  ways  to  urge  this  measure  upon  the  attention  of 
the  Government,  and  to  pray  for  its  consummation,  lest 
the  condemnation  of  those  who  knew  their  duty  to  the 
poor  and  oppressed,  and  did  it  not,  should  be  visited  upon 
the  nation. 

I  read  that  to  show  you  that  while,  on  the  one  hand,  they 
were  conscious  of  their  obligations  to  the  Government 
and  nation,  they  had  also  their  convictions  of  humanity 
towards  the  oppressed.  In  1862  these  deliverances  be 
came  stronger  and^'  clearer  throughout  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  land.  Then  we  come  to  1863,  and  first  I 
will  refer  to  the  report  of  the  Dutch  Reformed  Church — 


248          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S   SPEECHES 

the  most  immovable  church  in  the  world.  They  come 
out,  however,  in  a  most  unmistakable  manner.  The 
Methodist  Church  has  covered  itself  with  perpetual  honor 
—thanks  be  to  God  for  their  fidelity.  Page  after  page  of 
their  reports  is  made  up  of  resolutions  on  the  subject  full 
of  clear  instructions  as  to  Christian  duty.  Here  is  the 
testimony  of  the  American  Baptist  Missionary  Union  : — 

Resolved, — That  the  developments  of  the  year  since 
elapsed,  in  connection  with  this  attempt  to  destroy  the 
best  government  on  earth,  have  tended  only  to  deepen 
our  conviction  of  the  truth  of  the  sentiments  which  we 
then  expressed,  and  which  we  now  and  here  solemnly 
reiterate  and  re-affirm. 

Resolved, — That  the  authors,  aiders,  and  abettors,  of  this 
slave-holder's  rebellion,  in  their  desperate  efforts  to  nation 
alize  the  institution  of  slavery,  and  to  extend  its  despotic 
sway  throughout  the  land,  have  themselves  inflicted  on 
that  institution  a  series  of  most  terrible  and  fatal  and 
suicidal  blows,  from  which,  we  believe,  it  can  never  re 
cover,  and  they  have  themselves  thus  fixed  its  destiny 
and  hastened  its  doom  ,  and  that,  for  thus  overruling 
what  appeared  at  first  to  be  a  terrible  national  calamity, 
to  the  production  of  results  so  unexpected  and  glorious, 
our  gratitude  and  adoration  are  due  to  that  wonder-work 
ing  God,  who  still  "maketh  the  wrath  of  man  to  praise 
him,  while  the  remainder  of  that  wrath  he  restrains." — 
Psalm  Ixxvi.,  10. 

And  there  is  much  more  to  the  same  purpose.  Then  I 
have  one  from  Vermont  and  one  from  Maine,  which  is 
scarcely  cold  yet.  It  is  a  most  honorable  utterance, 
drawn  up  I  think  by  Dr.  D wight,  of  Portland,  a  descend 
ant  of  the  honored  and  well-known  Dr.  Dwight.  But  I 
will  not  read  all  these  documents,  which  are,  however, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  249 

quite  at  your  service,  if  you  wish  to  inspect  them.  I  have 
not  counted  them,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are  two 
hundred  of  them,  and  if  you  read  them  all  you  would  say 
there  were  a  thousand.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  I  seek 
by  this  not  so  much  to  make  an  argument  as,  what  is 
better  a  great  deal,  to  produce  in  you  the  moral  convic 
tion  that  the  American  churches,  under  great  difficulties, 
having  been  long  involved  in  a  trying  crisis,  have  come  to 
the  conclusion,  through  their  representatives,  that  this 
rebellion  ought  to  be  crushed,  and  that  slavery  should 
be  destroyed  with  the  rebellion.  I  have  not  seen  Dr. 
Massie,  but  I  know  that  no\v  he  has  been  to  America, 
and  seen  there  things  with  his  own  eyes,  he  is  prepared  to 
come  to  the  same  conclusion.  I  know  that  he  is  an 
honest  man,  and  I  am  sure  that  an  honest  man  could 
come  to  no  other.  And  now  it  is  not  a  question  with  us 
whether  this  war  should  stop.  We  are  not  going  to  stop 
this  war  whatever  you  do.  You  have  not— let  me  say — 
stood  up  for  us  so  strongly  for  the  last  two  or  three  years 
that  you  can  influence  us  now  to  stop  the  war.  ("  Hear," 
and  laughter.)  I  don't  pretend  to  say  that,  considering 
your  own  difficulties,  you  have  not  taken  the  right  path. 
I  see  a  great  many  things  in  your  internal  affairs  here  in 
England  that  I  was  not  aware  of  before.  We  thought 
that  you  were  all  well-informed  on  this  question,  and  that 
you  sat  in  your  ease  and  arrogance — allow  me  to  say 
what  I  would  say  in  the  Slates — and  that  having  thus 
settled  }our  principles  you  refused  to  make  an  applica- 


250 


HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER^S  SPEECHES 


tion  of  them  to  the  States  which  needed  them  more  than 
any  other  country  in  the  world.     Now,  I   find  that  you 
are  far  from  well-informed,  and  it  is  a  great  comfort  to 
me  to  know  that  your  conduct  has  not  all  arisen  from  de 
pravity.     I  shall  go  back  and  say  :  "  You  must  not  think 
that  England  simply  lefused  to  bear  witness   to  her  own 
principles.     She    is  yet  in  the   battle  herself  about  this 
question,  not  as  to  slavery,  but  as  to  her  own  institutions, 
and  if  she  had  borne  witness,    as    some   of   her   people 
would  have  done,  it  would   have  created  a  party  move 
ment."     I  shall  not  discuss  whether  there  was  not  higher 
ground  to  take  than  this,  and  whether   England   should 
not  have  risen  in  the  providence  of  God  and   occupied  it, 
but  you  are  men,  and  we  are   men,  and  we  are  glad   to 
find  a  reason  for  not  being  angry  with   you.     This  has 
been  our  feeling  in   the   past    and  it  has  been   unlike    a 
common  national  feeling.     Generally  speaking,  the  uned 
ucated    and    passionate    men    have   their  prejudices  and 
bitternesses,    while    the    intelligent    classes    have    their 
better  opinions  and  judgments.     But  it  has  been  the  re 
verse  with  us.     Those  that  have   felt  the   most  grief  and 
indignation  with  England   have   been   just  the   educated 
and  Christian  public,  who  have  felt,  with  scarcely  an  ex 
ception,  that  England  has  been  selfishly  cold  and  cruel. 
I  don't  intend  to  say  whether  that  has  been  your  state  or 
not.     I  am  not  here  to  make  a  case  against  you.     I  am  a 
Christian  amongst  Christians.     I  am  for  doing  what  will 
unite   us,    if  we  have  not  been  united  [before,  and  what 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  251 

will  keep  our  countries  together  in  Christian  fellowship. 
But  somebody  ought  to  tell  you  this — a  great  many  would 
think  it,  and  would  net  have  grace  to  say  it  plainly  to 
you.  (Hear.)  But  God  has  strengthened  me  to  speak 
my  mind  to  you,  dear  Christian  brethren,  and  to  tell  you, 
that,  so  far  as  your  influence  has  gone  hitherto,  it  has  all 
been  against  liberty  and  for  slavery.  I  do  not  mean  that 
that  is  what  you  meant,  but  I  do  say  that  was  the  effect 
of  your  conduct  in  America.  From  one  cause  or  ancther, 
unfortunately,  the  moral  influence  of  Christians  in  Eng 
land,  with  individual  exceptions  which  I  live  to  remember, 
has  been  on  the  side  of  slavery  and  against  those  who 
were  struggling  to  put  it  down.  Now  I  know  that  in 
such  an  hour  as  this,  arid  in  the  presence  of  Christ,  who 
is  in  our  midst,  you  will  receive  such  a  statement  from 
me  in  the  same  spirit  as  I  make  it.  (Cheers.)  I  know 
that  you  will  give  this  subject  your  consideration, — that 
you  will  revise  your  opinions,  if  needs  be,  and  not  allow 
yourselves  to  be  influenced  by  a  commercial  fras,  nor  by 
unscrupulous  papers.  I  wish  you  to  understand  how 
much  harm  has  been  done  on  our  side,  too,  by  "  the  cop 
persmith.'5  I  beg  of  you  to  examine  this  question  of 
duty  to  God's  people — of  duty  to  God.  Yea,  I  will  hum 
ble  myself  for  Christ's  sake,  and  for  the  fellowship  of  the 
body  of  Christ,  and  beg  of  you  for  your  sakes  to  examine 
this  fairly.  We  wish  not  to  be  separated  from  the  Eng 
lish  people.  We  want  to  see  the  old  links  rubbed 
brighter.  (Cheers.)  Let  me  tell  you,  however,  we  cannot 


252          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

stop  this  war — not  if  you  were  to  line  our  shores  with 
fleets,  which  I  know  you  will  not  do ;  not  if  you  were  to 
fill  Canada  with  your  armies,  which  I  know  you  will  not; 
not  if  you  remain  still  indifferent  or  adverse.  That  would 
make  no  difference  ;  but  is  there  not  to  be  unity  between 
the  Christians  of  England  and  America  ?  You  say  that 
we  have  retorted  upon  you,  and  said  bitter  things.  Do 
you  recollect  that  wonderful  passage  in  Scott's  "  Anti 
quary,"  where  a  certain  hero  had  lost  his  son  and  was 
next  morning  found  by  the  Antiquary  engaged  in  a  work 
on  which,  having  met  with  insuperable  difficulties,  he 
vented  his  grief  and  rage,  although  it,  of  course,  was  in 
no  respect  to  blame  ?  ("  Hear,"  and  laughter.)  How 
natural  a  thing  it  is  to  vent  our  impatience  and  grief 
upon  our  own  property  or  upon  our  own  friend.  And 
when  we  had  seen  our  children  slaughtered — oh  !  what 
noble  children  have  fallen  in  this  war — what  tears  have 
fallen  from  us  day  and  night, — and  when  we  found  treach 
ery  in  the  Government  and  on  every  side,  we  did  hope  to 
have  received  some  sympathy  ;  but  instead  of  that,  the 
wind  that  came  from  England  was  as  cold  as  Greenland ; 
and  if,  when  we  were  disappointed,  we  said  bitter  things 
of  England,  because  we  loved  her  and  expected  her  to 
support  freedom,  may  God  forgive  us.  (Cheers.)  You 
will  ask  me  what  can  be  done.  Well,  in  the  first  place, 
let  me  say,  clear  Christian  brethren,  that  I  thank  you 
very  much  for  the  kind  things  you  have  said  and  done 
for  me.  But  I  certainly  would  feel  it  to  be  a  thousand 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  253 

times  better,  if  every  Christian  minister  and  Christian 
brother  would  consent,  as  the  result  of  my  importunity 
to  open  this  matter  on  his  knees  before  God.  I  have 
great  faith  in  the  guiding  spirit  of  God.  I  do  not  be 
lieve  he  will-  allow  his  dear  people  of  England  to  go 
wrong  on  this  question.  Well,  next  I  ask  you  to  remem 
ber  us  in  your  prayers.  I  do  not  mean  in  those  circuitous 
ubiquities  that  take  in  everybody  and  everything.  But  I 
ask  you  to  pray  for  the  North  as  for  those  that  you  be 
lieve  to  be  doing  a  great  work  for  God.  Pray  for  the 
North  as  you  would  have  prayed  for  the  Covenanters,  for 
the  old  Nonconformists,  for  the  old  Puritans,  for  Chris 
tians  in  any  age  whose  duty  it  became  to  resist  unright 
eousness,  corruption,  and  wrong.  Pray  for  them  as  for 
men  in  that  dark  trouble  in  which  God  frequently  leaves 
His  people  before  the  daylight  comes  and  the  glory  of  vic 
tory  is  showered  down  upon  them.  But  when  the  trum 
pet  sounds  for  peace,  and  what  are  left  of  us  are  gathered 
together,  and  there  are  to  be  congratulations,  and,  as  it 
were,  divisions  of  God's  spoils,  I  do  not  want  that  you 
should  be  left  out.  I  desire  that  whatever  may  have 
been  the  misinformation  regarding  this  conflict  3000 
miles  off,  for  the  future  there  may  be  no  possible  mistake 
— that  there  will  be  eye  to  eye,  heart  to  heart,  and  hand 
to  hand.  We  of  the  North  represent  your  civilization. 
In  the  South,  now  seeking  to  become  independent,  there 
is  not  a  point  of  sympathy  that  can  attach  her  to  England. 
If  the  North  prevail  in  this  conflict,  and  the  Union  be 


254 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


restored,  there  is  not  one  single  point  of  religion  and  civ 
ilization  in  the  whole  cyclopaedia  of  English  attainments, 
honorable,  noteworthy,  and  world-renowned,  which  would 
not  find  something  corresponding  thereto  among  us. 
This  train  of  remark  might  be  indefinitely  continued,  but 
it  is  unnecessary.  I  shall  go  home  certainly  with  a  much 
lighter  heart  than  if  I  had  not  spoken  to  England,  and 
had  not  through  my  labor  here — too  brief  for  my  own 
comfort — been  permitted  to  see  so  much  of  the  interior 
and  better  feeling  of  so  many  Christians  in  England. 
Before  I  sit  down  let  me  say  that  I  would  name  all  those 
honorable  names — John  Stuart  Mill,  Professors  Cairnes, 
Gold  win  Smith  and  Newman,  Baptist  Noel,  Newman 
Hall,  and  other  well-known  and  honored  names — I  would 
name  them  all,  but  that  there  are  so  many  whom  I  would 
wish  to  thank,  whose  names  I  either  do  not  know  or  have 
forgotten,  that  if  I  were  to  try  and  enumerate  those  who 
have  done  us  good  and  Christian  service,  I  should  do  in 
justice  to  many.  And  for  the  same  reason  I  will  not 
mention  the  papers  and  magazines  that  have  been  towers 
of  strength  to  us.  Yet  we  will  remember  them  ;  and 
the  day  will  arrive,  I  trust,  when  those  who  have  labored 
for  us  in  adversity  will  come  to  our  shores,  and  we  will 
treat  them  so  well  that  you  never  shall  see  them  back 
again.  (Loud  and  prolonged  applause.) 

The  Rev.  C.  STOVEL  said  he  felt  that  Mr.  Beecher 
and  his  friends  in  the  United  States  had  just  grounds  for 
complaint  respecting  the  coldness  of  the  sympathy  which 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  255 

they  had  received  from  this  country.  He  was  quite  cer 
tain,  however,  that  since  1833  there  had  been  a  very  de 
cided  feeling  in  England  in  reference  to  the  advance 
ment  of  emancipation  in  America.  There  was  ample 
proof  that  the  moral  influence  of  the  British  churches 
upon  American  Christians,  in  consequence  of  their  re 
peated  addresses  on  the  subject  of  slavery,  had  been  by 
no  means  small.  There  was  no  lesson  arising  out  of 
this  struggle  so  important  as  that  which  taught  the  moral 
power  of  the  followers  of  Christ  over  the  affairs  of  the 
earth.  The  important  question  to  be  studied  was  how 
the  moral  power  01  England  and  America  could  be  best 
united,  and  he  would  suggest  to  Mr.  Beecher  the  possi 
bility  of  from  time  to  time  communicating  to  church  or 
ganizations  in  England  the  best  mode  of  making  their 
words  and  actions  take  effect  in  the  United  States.  A 
confiding  and  free  communication  between  the  churches 
in  England  of  all  classes  and  of  America  through  some 
distinct  organization  would,  he  was  sure,  lead  to  results 
of  great  importance.  If  the  Christian  Church  would  but 
act  with  all  its  energies  concentrated  on  one  point  it 
would  be  strong  enough  to  carry  any  great  moral  question. 
He  thanked  Mr.  Beecher  from  the  bottom  of  his  heart 
for  his  labors  in  the  cause  of  freedom. 

Mr.  BEECHER  said  that  a  question  in  writing  had 
been  handed  up  to  him  from  a  highly  esteemed  minister 
to  this  effect — "  What  is  to  be  the  end  of  this — is  it  to  be 
a  war  of  extermination  ?  "  Now  (said  Mr.  Beecher),  I 


256 


HENRY  WARD  BEE  CHER'S  SPEECHES 


am  glad  of  this  question.  So  long  as  there  is  a  fraction 
of  hope  on  the  part  of  the  South  that  the  core  cannot  be 
reached,  it  will  form  a  centre  of  cohesion ;  but  as  soon 
as  the  conviction  enters  their  mind  that  slavery  must 
come  to  an  end,  they  will  dissolve  in  that  very  hour. 
We  have  to  go  on  fighting  until  this  conviction  is  pro 
duced.  You  talk  of  extermination  !  Well,  the  South 
has  lost  250,000  out  of  a  population  of  5,000,000  of  white 
men.  You  might  as  well  say  that  a  father  is  killing  his 
son  when  he  strikes  him  one  or  two  blows  as  a  punish 
ment.  The  North  is  not  trying  to  carry  moral  convic 
tion  by  force,  but  it  is  trying  to  uphold  the  Government 
and  to  put  down  a  wild  attempt  to  destroy  it.  We  arc- 
trying  by  legitimate  warfare  to  produce  an  impression 
that  the  struggle  on  behalf  of  slavery  is  hopeless ;  and 
let  me  say,  that  when  men  here  cry  "  Stop  the  war," 
when  such  cry  reaches  America,  it  means  "  Let  the 
South  have  its  own  way."  Another  written  question, 
the  purport  of  which  was  whether  the  tariff  was  no 
ground  of  Secession,  was  handed  to  Mr.  Beecher,  who 
replied — "  Certainly  not ;  if  any  man  in  America  were  to 
say'that  the  tariff  had  anything  to  do  with  this  Secession 
we  should  put  him  in  a  lunatic  asylum."  (Cheers  and 
laughter.) 

Mr.  WASHINGTON  WILKS  said  that  he  had 
listened  with  great  emotion  to  the  speech  they  had  heard 
from  their  honored  guest.  He  wished  Mr.  Beecher  to 
understand  how  deeply  those  who  were  present  felt  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  257 

rebuke  he  had  administered  to  this  country  for  her  cold 
ness  in  the  hour  of  America's  trial,  and  how  bitter  it  was 
to  them  to  have  it  supposed  that  they  were  so  indifferent 
as  they  had  been  represented.  He  had  had  opportunities 
of  hearing  and  reading  as  much  about  English  feeling  in 
reference  to  the  American  question  as  most  men,  and  he 
declared  his  solemn  conviction  that  with  all  England's 
faults  and  shortcomings  it  was  not  true  that  as  a  nation 
she  had  been  indifferent.  (Cheers.)  He  knew  well  that 
many  men  had  been  misinformed  and  had  gone  wrong  on 
the  subject.  He  knew  well  that  many  churches,  even 
churches  that  were  descended  from  the  Puritans,  had  gone 
wrong  from  the  same  cause,  and  that  many  pastors,  who 
would  have  been  faithful,  had  had  their  mouths  stopped 
by  rich  men.  But  he  had  turned  for  consolation  from 
the  churches  to  the  people,  and  had  found  it.  (Loud 
applause.)  He  complained  also  that  the  American  news 
papers  had  been  quick  at  taking  hold  of  information 
calculated  to  produce  bitter  feelings,  and  had  given 
very  little  heed  to  those  who  were  the  just  exponents  of 
English  sentiment.  The  leaders  of  the  English  people — 
our  Cobdens,  Brights,  and  all  the  chiefs  in  every  liberal 
movement — were  all  on  the  side  of  the  North  and  of  free 
dom.  He  could  not  recall  the  name  of  one  person  with 
any  pretensions  to  be  called  a  leader  of  the  people  who 
was  on  the  other  side.  (A  Voice  :  "  Brougham.")  Lord 
Brougham  had  ceased  for  twenty  years  to  be  a  public 
leader.  (Loud  cheers.)  When  the  negroes  in  the  West 
17 


258 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  ^S  SPEECHES 


Indies  were  emancipated  Brougham's  glory  culminated  ; 
and  happy  would  it  have  been  for  him  if  he  had  known 
then  how  to  gather  his  garments  of  greatness  about  him, 
and  sink  down  into  dignified  repose.  Since  when,  in 
1848,  he  raised  his  voice  against  the  struggling  liberties 
in  Europe,  he  had  been  no  mouthpeice  of  liberal  princi 
ples,  but  simply  the  echo  of  his  old  renown.  The  na 
tion  had  spoken  out  strongly  in  public  meetings,  not  sim 
ply  in  the  last  month  or  two,  but  through  the  whole 
course  of  the  struggle ;  and  he  was  sorry  that  the  New 
York  papers,  instead  of  giving  prominence  to  such  meet 
ings,  had  preferred  to  reprint  little  paltry  expressions  of 
opinion  against  America,  which  were  not  entitled  to  a 
grain  of  weight.  He  wished  Mr.  Beecher  to  understand 
that  the  feeling  expressed  towards  him  in  this  country 
was  not  only  genuine,  but  permanent.  He  had  called  it 
forth,  but  not  created  it.  (Loud  cheers.)  He  would 
have  found  it  if  he  had  come  a  year  ago.  He  would  have 
found  it  if  he  had  come  in  the  stormy  days  of  the  Trent 
business  ;  for  even  then  the  heart  of  Old  England  beat 
soundly  for  peace,  friendship,  and  freedom.  He  would 
say  further,  that  had  the  question  of  slavery  nothing  to  do 
with  this  contest — if  it  had  been  possible  for  civil  war  to 
have  broken  out  in  America  on  any  other  issue,  the  Eng 
lish  people  would  have  been  found  on  the  side  of  the 
American  Union,  as  a  great  embodiment  of  free  insti 
tutions,  and  a  great  instrument  of  human  progress.  Mr, 
Beecher  would  go  back,  he  hoped,  to  America,  all  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  259 

happier  for  knowing  that  while  he  had  greatly  aided  them 
in  their  great  work  of  calling  forth  an  expression  of  public 
opinion,  and  bringing  it  to  bear  upon  the  Government 
and  the  press,  he  had  also  good  reason  to  know  that  Eng 
land  had  always  been  right,  and  would  continue  to  be 
right,  on  the  great  question  at  issue  in  America.  He 
would  only  add  that  he  rejoiced  at  the  opportunity  thus 
afforded  to  Mr.  Beecher  of  addressing  so  large  a  number 
of  representative  Christian  men.  He  deplored  above  all 
things  the  partial  defection  of  Nonconformist  ministers  in 
this  matter,  for  if  they  had  been  but  as  faithful  as  the 
poor  weavers  of  Lancashire,  no  statesman,  no  journalist 
would  have  dared  to  slander  England  by  saying  that  she 
was  not  faithful  to  America  in  her  hour  of  conflict  and 
agony.  (Loud  applause.) 

Mr.  GEORGE  THOMPSON  moved  the  following  res 
olution  :— "  That  this  meeting  of  Christian  ministers  and 
Christian  laymen,  assembled  to  testify  their  respect,  ad 
miration,  and  esteem  for  the  character  and  anti-slavery 
labor  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  having  listened 
with  the  deepest  interest  to  his  important  statements,  and 
wise  and  weighty  counsel,  desire  to  tender  to  him  their 
warmest  thanks  for  the  faithfulness,  affection,  and  fervor 
with  which  he  has  addressed  them.  They  would  testify 
to  the  importance  and  timeliness  of  his  recent  public 
speeches,  and  while  regretting  that  he  cannot  remain  to 
render  additional  service  to  the  cause  of  truth  and  free 
dom  in  this  country,  would  wish  him  God-speed  on  his  re- 


26o          HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER' S  SPEECHES 

turn  to  his  native  land,  and  would  assure  him  that  they  in 
future  will  cherish  an  affectionate  remembrance  of  his 
short  but  truly  friendly  and  most  useful  visit."  He  felt 
peculiar  pleasure  in  submitting  that  resolution.  He  had 
been  permitted  on  three  occasions  to  listen  to  their  guest, 
and  he  had  each  time  learned  something  with  regard  to 
the  merits  of  the  question  which  he  did  not  know  before. 
He  was,  perhaps  more  than  any  living  Englishman,  an 
American  ;  and  though  he  had  had,  in  years  past,  to  say 
some  faithful  things  there,  and  had  suffered  personally  in 
consequence,  when  the  hour  of  her  trial  came  he  felt  to 
wards  her  only  as  a  faithful  friend.  He  regretted  that 
those  whose  duty  it  was  to  lead  public  opinion  in  this 
country  did  not  in  all  respects  do  their  duty,  but  he  could 
confirm  the  statements  of  his  friend  Mr.  Wilks,  that  every 
Englishman  who  really  understood  America  had  given  a 
sound  and  true  utterance  upon  this  great  question.  The 
only  exception  was  Lord  Brougham,  who  had  indeed  blot 
ted  his  fair  escutcheon  by  the  inexplicable  course  which 
he  had  taken  on  the  subject.  There  was  a  goodly  array 
of  public  men  who  had  spoken  out  on  the  side  of  the 
North,  and  if  some  to  whom  they  were  accustomed  to 
look  as  leaders  had  not  done  so,  they  had  at  least  had  the 
discretion  to  keep  silent.  He  had  attended  hundreds  of 
public  meetings  on  this  question,  and  had  invariably  car 
ried  the  people  with  him.  With  regard  to  once  slave- 
trading  Liverpool,  it  must  be  remembered  that  it  had 
strong  commercial  interests  which  tended  to  identify  it 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  26l 

with  the  Southern  side,  but  he  still  believed  that  at  heart 
the  feeling  of  the  people  even  there  was  in  favor  of  the 
North.  With  regard  to  America,  it  must  gladden  the 
hearts  of  all  to  notice  the  wonderful  change  that  had 
come  over  tire  country  on  the  slavery  question  during  the 
last  three  years.  For  one  thing  especially  he  begged  to 
thank  Mr.  Beecher — that  whether  in  his  own  pulpit  or  on 
an  English  platform,  he  had  always  generously,  nobly, 
justly  labored  in  the  field  so  bravely  occupied  by  his 
father  before  him,  bearing  his  testimony  on  behalf  of 
truth  and  liberty.  (Loud  applause.) 

The  Rev.  J.  GRAHAM  seconded  the  motion,  which 
was  carried  by  acclamation,  the  company  standing. 

Mr.  BEECHER  begged  to  specially  acknowledge  the 
address  to  him  through  his  church  at  Brooklyn.  That 
church  had  sent  him  abroad,  and  had  generously  supplied 
his  pulpit  in  his  absence ;  and  he  had  no  doubt  they 
would  appreciate  that  mark  of  courtesy  and  kindly  feel 
ing.  (Cheers.) 

The  CHAIRMAN  then  offered  prayer,  and  the  pro 
ceedings  were  brought  to  a  close. 


262  HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER  yS  SPEECHES 


MANCHESTER    FAREWELL    MEETING, 
OCTOBER  24,  1863. 

ON  invitation  of  the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society, 
a  large  number  of  the  adherents  of  the  Union  Cause, 
gathered  together  on  the  above  named  date  to  entertain 
Mr.  Beecher  at  a  public  breakfast,  and  to  bid  him  fare 
well. 

The  Chair  was  occupied  by  Mr.  Geo.  L.  Ashworth, 
Mayor  of  Rochdale,  and  among  the  many  present  were 
noti'ced  Professor  Newman,  Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  Parker, 
Messrs.  Francis  Taylor,  J.  H.  Estcourt,  Samuel  Watts, 
Jun.,  and  John  Patterson  of  Liverpool 

A  large  number  of  letters  were  read  from  those  finding 
themselves  unable  to  attend,  and  extracts  from  some  of 
these  letters  are  appended  : 

THE  PRESIDENT,  T.  B.  POTTER,  ESQ. 

I  deeply  regret  my  inability  to  be  present  at  the  Break 
fast.  Pray  present  my  kind  regard  to  Mr.  Beecher,  and 
tell  him  how  sorry  I  am  not  to  have  met  him  again. 

JOHN  BRIGHT,  ESQ.,  M.P.,  BIRMINGHAM. 

I  cannot  be  in  Manchester  on  Saturday  next,  and 
therefore  cannot  have  the  pleasure  of  meeting  Mr. 
Beecher. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  263 

I  am  sorry  for  this,  but  you  will  have  a  good  meeting, 
I  do  not  doubt,  and  Mr.  Beecher  will  warm  the  zeal  and 
strengthen  the  faith  of  those  who  are  on  the  right  side  in 
this  great  American  conflict. 

W.  E.  FORSTER,  M.P.,  BRADFORD. 

I  am  sorry  that  I  am  so  engaged  on  Saturday  next  that 
it  will  be  quite  impossible  for  me  to  accept  your  invitation 
to  meet  Mr.  Beecher  at  breakfast  that  morning. 

Will  you  be  good  enough  to  express  to  him  my  regret 
that  I  am  unable  to  take  leave  of  him,  and  to  wish  him 
well  in  his  voyage  and  in  his  earnest  struggles  for  his 
country  and  for  liberty. 

PROFESSOR  ALFRED  NEWTH,  LANCASHIRE  INDEPENDENT 
COLLEGE. 

I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  invitation  to  the 
breakfast  to  the  Rev.  H.  \V.  Beecher,  but  regret  that  my 
engagements  will  not  allow  me  to  be  present.  I  regret 
this  the  more  as  I  was  away  when  he  unexpectedly  hon 
ored  the  college  with  a  visit. 

PROFESSOR    HENRY   p.   ROGERS,   GLASGOW   UNIVERSITY. 

It  stirs  my  heart  with  emotions  of  profound  joy  and 
gratitude  to  see  the  awakened  earnestness  of  the  more 
enlightened  true  men  of  England  in  supporting  the  North 
in  its  struggle  to  maintain  the  Union  and  to  resist  all  rec 
ognition  of  the  slave-holding  confederacy. 

CHARLES  ROBERTSON,  ESQ.,  LIVERPOOL. 

I  hope  that  Mr.  Beecher's  visit  among  us,  as  well  as 
his  frank  and  noble  addresses,  will  form  an  additional 
link  in  the  chain  that  ought  to  bind  Englishmen  and 
Americans,  and  that  the  manner  of  his  reception,  not 
withstanding  the  hostile  opposition  awakened  in  some 


264 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


quarters  (and  I  refer  especially  to  this  town),  has  satisfied 
him  that  the  sympathies  and  good  wishes  of  a  large  and, 
I  trust,  a  growing  portion  of  the  English  people  are  en 
listed  on  the  side  of  the  Federal  Government,  identifying 
it,  as  they  do,  with  the  establishment  of  free  institutions, 
free  speech,  and  free  manhood. 

The  CHAIRMAN  said  they  were  met  together  not  so 
much  to  make  speeches  as  to  show  by  their  presence 
their  sympathy  for  the  distinguished  gentleman  who  had 
honored  them  with  his  company.  They  were  met  to 
gether  to  give  the  lie  to  that  which  had  for  some  time 
been  current  in  the  country,  namely,  that  the  people  of 
England  had  no  sympathy  with  the  principles  and  cause 
which  their  guest  had  so  long  and  so  manfully  espoused, 
and  which  they  were  now  met  to  show  they  were  pre 
pared  to  defend  and  maintain.  He  deemed  it  a  mat 
ter  of  the  deepest  humiliation  that  there  was  in  this 
country  even  a  small  section  of  our  countrymen  who 
were  prepared  publicly  to  avow  the  slightest  amount 
of  sympathy  with  that  atrocious  and  wicked  system  of 
slavery  ;  and  whatever  faults  we  might  have  to  find  with 
the  Government  of  this  country — and  I  am  one  who  thinks 
it  is  far  from  perfection — still  on  the  question  of  main 
taining  a  strict  neutrality  with  America,  on  the  whole  it 
deserved  our  warmest  support  and  sympathy.  It  would 
have  been  impossible  for  Mr.  Beecher  to  have  selected 
a  time  more  appropriate  and  opportune  for  visiting  this 
country  than  the  present  juncture,  in  order  to  render, 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land,  an  oppor- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  26~ 

tunity  to  Englishmen — at  least  a  vast  majority  of  them — 
of  expressing  their  honest  sympathy  \vith  the  cause  of 
the  North.  The  speeches  which  Mr.  Beecher  had  de 
livered  in  the  more  important  cities  of  this  great  country 
had  gone  a  long  way  towards  enlightening  us  on  many 
points  on  which  great  ignorance  prevailed.  These 
speeches  had  dispelled  much  that  had  deceived  and  misled 
us,  and  he  (the  mayor)  believed,  in  the  language  of  one  of 
the  letters  just  read,  that  there  would  be  a  rapidly  in 
creasing  number  of  people  in  England  who  would  rally 
round  the  standard  of  liberty,  and  show  to  the  northern 
portion  of  the  States  that  they  have  our  sympathies,  and 
that  slavery  to-day  was  with  us  just  what  it  had  been  in 
times  past,  a  thing  we  viewed  with  the  utmost  abhorrence. 
We  could  not  look  upon  that  struggle  now  going  on  in 
America  with  feelings  other  than  those  of  the  strongest 
sorrow.  We  could  not  contemplate  the  vast  sacrifices  of 
life  and  blood  without  feeling  the  deepest  commiseration. 
But  if,  in  this  mighty  and  gigantic  struggle,  the  result  was 
what  he  hoped  and  believed  it  would  be — the  entire  and 
permanent  abolition  of  slavery,  then  terrible  and  vast  as 
the  sacrifices  had  been,  that  result  would  compensate  for 
all.  Let  there  be  no  mistake  on  this  subject.  Let  us 
render  all  the  moral  support  we  can  to  the  Federal  Gov 
ernment,  and  show  them  by  our  prayers,  sympathies,  and 
kindly  expressions  of  affection  that  we  feel  for  them  in 
their  present  fearful  conflict,  and  let  us  uphold  the  hands 


266          HENRY  WARD  'BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

of  our  Government  in  maintaining  a  strict  and  impartial 
neutrality.  (Loud  cheers.) 

Mr.  FRANCIS  TAYLOR  said  he  had  been  requested 
to  move  a  resolution  which  was  a  speech  in  itself,  and 
which  would  render  it  quite  unnecessary  that  he  should 
detain  them  with  any  lengthened  remarks.  The  resolu 
tion  was  : — "  That  we  tender  our  thanks  to  the  Rev. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  for  the  able,  eloquent,  and 
manly  addresses  he  has  delivered  to  thousands  of  our 
fellow-countrymen,  on  the  present  national  crisis  in  the 
United  States  of  America ;  and  express  our  belief  that 
the  majority  of  the  intelligent  men  in  this  kingdom  un 
mistakably  sympathize  with  the  friends  of  freedom  in 
America,  and  approve  of  every  effort  made  to  maintain 
free  and  constitutional  government.  We  further  express 
our  desire  that  he  may  be  spared  to  reach  his  native 
land  in  health  and  strength;  and  we  assure  him  he  will 
take  with  him  the  friendship  of  many  on  this  side  the 
Atlantic,  who  will  honor  his  name  and  remember  him 
with  affection."  (Cheers.) 

This  resolution  certainly  required  no  words  of  his 
to  recommend  it  to  the  hearty  approval  of  the  com 
pany,  and  he  was  equally  sure  that  Mr.  Beecher,  the 
gentleman  referred  to  in  the  resolution,  needed  no 
compliment  either  from  the  mover  of  the  reso 
lution  or  from  any  other  person.  Certainly,  had 
not  Mr.  Beecher  established  for  himself  a  reputation 
which  would  endure  for  all  time,  before  he  visited  our 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  267 

shores,  the  addresses  he  had  delivered  to  crowded 
audiences  since  his  arrival  would  have  secured  for  him 
our  most  hearty  approval,  and  have  entitled  him  to  every 
expression  which  the  resolution  contained.  There  was 
one  point  in  the  resolution  to  which  for  a  moment  he 
(Mr.  Taylor)  wished  to  refer.  It  stated  that  "  the  major 
ity  of  the  intelligent  people  of  this  country  unmistakably 
sympathized  with  the  friends  of  freedom  in  America,  and 
approved  of  every  effort  made  to  maintain  free  and  con 
stitutional  government."  Since  Mr.  Beecher  addressed 
the  audience  in  our  Free-trade  Hall,  and  in  various  other 
places  in  the  kingdom,  comments  had  been  made  on  these 
meetings  by  various  newspapers  throughout  the  country. 
It  was  asserted  by  the  Times,  and  by  its  humble  follower 
in  Manchester — (laughter) — that  notwithstanding  all  the 
enthusiasm  expressed  at  these  meetings,  they  really 
meant  nothing  at  all ;  that  Mr.  Beecher  would  make  a 
great  mistake  if  he  assumed  that  in  consequence  of  large 
attendances  at  these  meetings,  public  opinion  in  this 
country  sympathized  with  his  friends  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Atlantic.  All  he  (Mr.  Taylor)  had  to  say  was  this  : — 
Let  Mr.  James  Spence,  in  the  advocacy  of  the  Southern 
cause  in  England,  try  the  experiment ;  let  him  go  round 
to  the  large  cities  in  this  country  and  call  public  meeting?, 
at  which  all  who  chose  might  attend  ;  and  let  him  thus  test 
public  opinion  and  see  whether  it  went  with  the  South. 
(Loud  cheers,  and  a  voice  .  "  Let  him  take  Liverpool 
first.")  When  he  (Mr.  Taylor)  presided  at  the  meeting  in 


268  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

the  Free-trade  Hall,  he  stated  before  Mr.  Beecher  addressed 
the  assembly  that  if  any  person  wished  to  ask  Mr.  Beecher 
any  questions  after  the  proceedings  had  terminated  that  per 
son  would  be  at  perfect  liberty  to  do  so,  and  Mr.  Beecher 
would  be  ready  to  answer  the  questions  so  put  to  him- 
Mr.  Beecher  himself  made  a  similar  offer  in  the  course  of 
his  speech  but  not  one  person  presented  himself  to  ask 
any  question.  It  appeared  however  that  some  gentleman 
calling  himself  "  a  traveller  " — whether  he  was  at  the 
meeting  or  not  was  not  known — if  he  were,  probably  he  was 
one  of  the  bellowing  bulls  that  disturbed  the  back  settle 
ments  of  the  hall.  Well,  this  person  instead  of  availing 
himself  of  the  opportunity  of  putting  his  questions  in  per 
son,  sneaked  off  to  the  columns  of  a  sympathizing  news 
paper  in  Manchester  and  said  "  it  was  impossible  to  get  a 
straightforward  answer  from  Mr.  Beecher  respecting  the 
treatment  of  colored  people  in  the  North."  Now,  if  this 
gentleman  had  appeared  on  the  platform  at  the  Free-trade 
Hall  to  put  these  questions,  he  would  have  found  no  diffi 
culty  in  getting  a  straightforward  answer,  and  no  doubt 
Mr.  Beecher  would  so  far  notice  this  question  as  to  give 
during  the  remarks  he  was  about  to  make  an  answer  that 
would  satisfy  every  one.  He  had  much  pleasure  in  mov 
ing  the  resolution  he  had  read. 

Mr.  JOHN  PATTERSON,  of  Liverpool,  said  that  man 
must  be  very  ill  informed  indeed  upon  an  important  sub 
ject  if  he  had  not  heard  of  the  life  labors  as  well  as  "  Life 
Thoughts "  of  Mr.  Henry  Ward  Beecher.  (Applause.) 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  269 

Among  the  glorious  chapters  which  adorned  the  page 
of  humanity  was  a  chapter  which  recorded  the  life 
and  labors  of  the  "  fanatical  abolitionists  "  of  America. 
He  for  one  gladly  embraced  the  opportunity  now  afforded 
to  him  in  this  assembly  of  "  fanatical  abolitionists  " — 
(laughter) — to  tender  his  thanks  to  Mr.  Beecher  not  only 
for  what  that  gentleman  had  done  in  England,  but  for 
what  he  and  his  friends  had  done  in  America  during  the 
past  twenty-five  years.  During  the  few  weeks  of  the 
past  summer  which  he  spent  in  America  he  had  the  pleas 
ure  of  being  introduced  to  Mr.  Beecher  at  his  own 
church,  and  of  telling  him  that  the  people  in  England  be 
lieved  that  America  was  much  indebted  to  him  and  men 
like  him  for  having  the  courage  to  stand  up  before  the 
world  and  rebuke  the  intentions  and  presumptions  of  one 
of  the  basest  and  foulest  Confederacies  that  ever  dis 
graced  humanity.  (Loud  cheers.)  It  was  important  that 
we  in  England  should  speak  out  unmistakably,  as  well  as 
be  spoken  to  by  the  eloquent  mouth-piece  of  American 
abolitionists.  There  was  a  great  mistake  existing  as  re 
garded  the  subject  of  anti-slavery  in  this  country  which 
sometimes  men  fell  into.  He  himself  was  but  a  child 
when  the  abolition  of  slavery  was  carried.  It  was  just  at 
that  stage  that  it  had  hardly  passed  enough  into  history 
to  be  familiarized  as  a  historical  question,  and  when  we 
were  likely  to  lose  accurate  statements  in  the  mist  of  tra 
dition.  What  was  the  position  of  England  with  regard  to 
this  slavery  question  ?  He  maintained  that  there  was  an 


270          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

excitement  and  contest  like  our  own  free-trade  agitation  ; 
like  that  which  abolished  "Tests  and  Corporation  Acts"  ; 
like  that  which  gave  to  our  Roman  Catholic  countrymen 
their  civil  privileges.  When  men  stood  up  to  say  in 
England,  "  We  are  all  anti-slavery,  and  always  were  ;  " 
it  was  either  an  intentional  falsehood,  or  an  ignorant  mis- 
statement.  For  England  was  never  entirely  anti-slavery. 
When  he  met  men  on  the  Liverpool  Exchange  who  said  to 
him,  "  You  are  a  great  fool  to  talk  about  slavery ;  we  are 
as  much  opposed  to  slavery  as  you,  and  we  want  to  put 
an  end  to  it."  He  asked — Why  ?  And  the  answer  was, 
"  It  deprives  us  of  cotton."  He  had  the  misfortune  to 
differ  from  many  as  to  cotton  grown  by  slaves.  The 
cheapest  way  in  which  a  man  could  get  things  was  to 
steal  them,  if  no  one  would  give  them  to  him.  And  on 
that  principle  the  cotton  grower  could  grow  cotton 
cheaper  with  the  stolen  labor  of  the  slave.  Men  in  this 
age  were  wiser  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of 
light  as  they  always  were,  and  hence  they  found  that 
cotton  could  be  grown  cheaper  by  slave  labor  than  by 
free.  But  the  Ruler  of  this  Universe  was  a  moral  gov 
ernor,  who  ordained  that  terrible  retribution  should 
follow  evil-doing,  and  it  had  now  fallen  upon  the 
United  States  in  the  devastation  which  had  overtaken 
them  and  which  would  have  the  effect  of  bring 
ing  up  the  price  of  slave-grown  to  free-grown 
cotton.  In  England  we  were  now  pretty  much  as  we 
always  were — the  minority  only  possessed  of  power  and 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2/I 

privilege.  But  education  was  being  now  more  generally 
diffused,  although  many  men  had  it  forced  down  their 
throats.  Some  only  desired  that  the  people  should  be  so 
much  educated  as  to  make  them  subservient  to  selfish 
purposes,  while  the  men  who  represented  the  really 
educated  intelligence  of  the  country  desired  that  the 
people  of  England  should  not  be  merely  what  Beresford 
Hope  wished,  a  "  well-fed,  well-clothed  church  peasantry  " 
— (loud  laughter) — but  rather  a  free,  intelligent,  indus 
trious,  and  self-elevating  people.  (Cheers.)  We  owed 
great  thanks  and  obligations  to  the  men  who  came  to  us 
with  not  only  "  4o-parson  "  but  5oo-parson  power  across 
the  Atlantic  and  who  spoke  words  of  truth,  soberness, 
and  logical  demonstration,  although  opposed  by  the 
Times,  Telegraph,  and  Manchester  Guardian.  (Laughter 
and  hisses.)  Many  persons  would  say  that  the  opposition 
given  to  Mr.  Ward  Beecher  demonstrated  the  futility  of 
his  endeavoring  to  speak  to  the  men  of  England.  It 
showed  rather  the  force  with  which  he  has  spoken  to 
them,  and  he  (Mr.  Patterson)  stood  there,  a  Liverpool 
man,  to  say  that  the  reception  Mr.  Beecher  met  with  in 
Liverpool,  exhibiting  as  it  did  all  the  vileness  that  still 
clung  around  them — all  the  miserable  tradition  of  an 
intolerant  Toryism  that  pervaded  a  portion  of  the  com 
munity;  yet  it  showed  still  further  how  high  the  intelli 
gence  of  Liverpool  had  risen — how  amazingly  its  middle 
class  had  risen,  and  how,  if  Liverpool  men  were  true  to 
themselves,  they  could  trample  under  foot  that  ancient 


2/2 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER  'S  SPEECHES 


and  rotten  tradition.  (Loud  cheers.)  That  meeting  in 
Liverpool  was  open  as  the  day.  It  had  been  stated  that 
it  was  packed.  It  was  untrue.  Every  opportunity  was 
given  to  any  man  to  attend  ;  and  pains  were  taken  by 
their  opponents  to  enlist  men  to  come  there  for  the  pur 
pose  of  opposition.  But  a  lamentable  failure  the  opposi 
tion  was.  Not  one-seventh  of  that  audience  held  up 
their  hands  in  opposition  to  the  vote.  Whilst  he  thor 
oughly  sympathized  with  Mr.  Beecher,  and  felt  annoyed 
that  a  gentleman  in  his  position  and  from  such  a  distance 
should  be  obliged  to  contend  with  the  wild  beasts  at 
Ephesus, — (loud  laughter) — yet  he  rejoiced  for  the 
sake  of  liberty  that  the  meeting  was  held.  Many  meet 
ings  had  been  held,  but  the  people  of  Liverpool  had  pro 
nounced  by  tremendous  majorities  in  favor  of  the  North. 
(Loud  cheers.)  There  was  another  reason  why  he  de 
sired  they  should  very  unmistakably  pronounce  their 
thanks  to  Mr.  Beecher,  and  that  was  that  the  opposition 
to  him  had  not  only  come  from  our  hereditary  enemies, 
but  also  from  some  of  our  false  friends.  He  was  not 
unmindful  of  past  services  rendered  to  the  causes  of 
liberty  by  one  illustrious  man  before  he  became  a  lord. 
He  had  read  with  great  enjoyment  words  which  that  man 
had  spoken  for  all  time,  and  which  would  never  die  ;  but 
he  read  them  now  as  he  read  the  words  of  Balaam. 
And  deeply  did  he  regret  that  Henry  Brougham,  once 
the  man  who  claimed  to  be  the  very  prince  of  aboli 
tionists,  should  recently  have  stood  up  to  pronounce 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  273 

words  of  unparalleled  baseness  on  this  question.  (Loud 
cheers.)  The  justification  Lord  Brougham  gave  of  this 
truculence  was  that  he  himself  was  the  great  leader  of 
the  anti-slavery  party,  and  that  he  himself  did  more  in 
this  question,  not  only  than  any  other  man — for  to  say 
that  might  be  excuse  to  him — but  that  he  did  more  twice 
over  than  all  the  other  advocates  of  emancipation  put 
together.  Was  Lord  Brougham  forgetful  of  all  the 
Clarksons,  Wilberforces,  Fowell  Buxtons,  Macaulays,  and 
Jefferys — (cheers) — and  was  it  not  enough  to  rob  the 
sepulchres  of  the  dead,  but  he  must  endeavor  to  deprive 
the  living  of  the  glory  that  belong  to  them  ?  (Loud  ap 
plause.)  Was  Lord  Derby  such  an  unconsidered  trifle 
that  he  could  lay  claim  to  no  part  in  negro  emancipation 
— (cheers) — and  Lord  Russell  such  a  unit  that  he  could 
be  appropriately  snuffed  out  by  Lord  Brougham  at  an 
Edinburgh  banquet  ?  (Cheers.)  It  was  a  shame  to  see 
such  a  hecatomb  offered  to  the  vanity  of  one  poor, 
spoiled  old  man.  He  cordially  seconded  the  resolution. 

The  resolution  was  supported  by  Mr.  W.  B.  Whitehead, 
Mr.  Alderman  Kell  (Bradford),  Mr.  Alderman  Harvey 
(Salford),  and  passed  with  acclamation. 

The  Rev.  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  rose  to  return 
thanks,  and  was  enthusiastically  cheered.  He  said  :  Mr. 
Chairman  and  gentlemen — I  wish  I  could  say  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  But  I  begin  again — Mr.  Chairman  and  gen 
tlemen.  (A  voice  :  The  ladies  are  represented  by  the 
gentlemen.)  No  man  can  ever  represent  a  woman. 
18 


274         HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

(Boisterous  laughter  and  cheers.)  It  gives  me  great 
pleasure  this  morning  to  avow  myself  in  some  sense  a 
convert.  While  I  have  seen  and  still  see  in  England, 
even  more  perhaps  than  you  will  admit,  of  prejudice  and 
misconception,  I  have  been  made  aware  of  some  preju 
dices  and  much  misconception  in  myself,  and  in  other 
honest  men  whom  I  may  fairly  be  said  to  represent ;  and 
and  it  is  not  the  smallest  triumph  of  this  short  course  of 
two  weeks  during  which  I  have  been  permitted  to  remain 
in  England,  that  I  have  gained  the  victory  over  my  own 
past  impressions  and  am  prepared  to  admit  some  things 
that  I  have  stoutly  denied  to  Englishmen  of  my  own  con 
gregation,  who  used  to  say  to  me,  grieved  but  not  angered 
at  the  things  I  said  about  England,  "  You  do  not  know 
Old  England."  I  used  as  sturdily  to  say,  "  I  do."  But 
now  I  shall  say  to  them,  very  humbly,  "I  did  not." 
(Cheers.)  I  have  been  called  to  speak  on  a  question 
which  is  very  broad,  very  intricate,  and  multitudinous  in 
its  contents,  because  the  question  of  America  is  simply 
the  total  question  of  human  society.  It  begins  at  the 
top  and  goes  to  the  bottom,  ancf  back  again  from  the 
bottom  to  the  top :  from  the  circumference  to  the  centre, 
and  from  the  centre  to  the  circumference  ;  for  there  is 
nothing  in  political  economy,  philosophy,  human  right, 
or  whatever  can  spring  out  of  this  wonderful  being — man 
— in  society,  that  is  not  involved  directly  or  indirectly  in 
this  great  American  struggle.  And  in  speaking  upon  a 
question  so  broad,  it  was  quite  impossible  to  speak  ex- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1 863.  2/5 

haustively  :  the  only  thing  that  I  have  exhausted  has  been 
myself.  (Laughter.)  It  has  been  quite  impossible  un 
der  the  circumstances,  a  stranger  in  a  strange  com 
munity,  not  altogether  cognizant  of  the  prejudice  or  the 
wants  or  shades  of  thought  in  a  community,  to  speak 
upon  this  large  question  so  as  always  to  meet  the 
requisitions  of  my  audience.  I  shall  not  dwell  upon 
the  interruption  which  I  have  taken  very  kindly — 
which  even  in  its  worst  form  at  Liverpool,  I  do 
them  the  justice  to  say,  was  rather  an  exhibition  of  party 
feeling  than  of  personal  malignity  ; — and  although  it  made 
my  work  very  hard,  God  is  my  witness  it  did  not  excite  in 
my  mind  the  slightest  animosity  towards  them,  still  less 
towards  that  very  noble  community  which  they  misrep 
resented  on  that  occasion.  There  is  another  matter  I 
wished  to  speak  of ;  and  that  is,  that  the  reports  of  my 
speeches  are  not  authoritative,  nor  can  they  be  so,  until 
they  have  passed  under  my  revision.  And  I  wish  to  say 
that  no  man  here  is  so  much  indebted  to  a  class  of  men 
much  abused  and  very  little  understood,  but  to  whom  I 
owe  lasting  obligations — I  mean  reporters  for  newspapers. 
They  are  young  men  who  are  generally  sent  out  into 
meetings  of  all  kinds,  where  men  are  divided  and  where 
questions  are  discussed  with  warmth  and  excitement  at  un 
timely  hours  ;  and  when  usually  crammed  into  the  most 
inconvenient  situations,  are  obliged  to  take  down  either 
the  whole  or  a  part  of  what  is  spoken  upon  arguments 
upon  which  they  have  not  been  thoroughly  read,  exercis- 


276 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


ing  at  the  same  time  an  immediate  judgment  as  to  what 
should  be  omitted,  or  what  the  wants  of  every  newspaper 
oblige  them  to  produce.  Then  they  are  hurried  back  in 
the  midnight  hour  to  write  out  that  which  is  so  lately 
taken,  and  often  because  it  is  not  presented  next  morn 
ing  as  some  would  wish,  men  blame  them,  and  impute  ill 
motives.  (Loud  laughter  and  cheers.)  Now,  I  am  a 
newspaper  man  myself,  and  have  been  made  familiar  with 
the  life  and  difficulties  which  beset  the  corps  of  reporters. 
I  have  followed  the  reports  of  my  speeches  in  England, 
but  have  never  in  a  single  speech  seen  that  which  led  me 
to  believe  that  any  reporter  had  intentionally  .misrepre 
sented  what  I  had  said.  I  have,  however,  seen  the  edi 
torial  column,  where  I  know  the  editor,  thinking  he  was 
supporting  a  certain  party,  misrepresented  both  my  facts 
and  principles.  And,  if  there  are  reporters  present,  I 
desire  to  express  through  them  my  sense  of  the  obligation 
under  which  I  lie  to  their  kindness  and  fidelity  in  this 
visit.  Yet,  for  reasons  I  have  stated,  my  speeches  gen 
erally  occupying  more  than  two  hours,  and  passing  gener 
ally  very  rapidly  over  many  great  topics,  and  all  having 
naturally  to  appear  next  morning,  when  the  paper  could 
not  afford  to  put  in  a  verbatim  report,  the  reports,  while 
presenting  the  general  tenor  of  my  speeches,  have  had  such 
inevitable  imperfections  as  to  make  them  not  exactly  the 
things  upon  which  to  base  an  attack  upon  me.  I  wish, 
now,  in  the  opening  remarks  which  I  shall  make,  to  ex 
plain  to  you  precisely  the  thing  which  I  have  attempted 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  277 

to  do  in  England.  I  have  attempted — it  is  the  key-note — 
the  inward  key-note  of  my  whole  progress  here — I  have 
attempted  to  use  my  information,  and  the  position  which 
you  have  been  kind  enough  to  secure  for  me,  to  promote 
a  better  understanding  and  a  lasting  peace  between  these 
two  great  nations.  (Loud  cheers.)  There  have  been 
therefore  a  great  many  things  I  might  have  said,  and  feel 
ings  I  might  have  expressed,  which  I  have  not.  But  I 
have  endeavored  to  bring  all  things  to  the  bar  of  a  manly 
judgment,  and  to  say  those  things  which  would  draw 
closer  the  bonds  of  amity.  Even  in  the  cases  where  I 
have  brought  up  matters  on  which  your  judgment  and 
mine  have  differed,  and  still  differ,  it  was  not  so  much  to 
go  back  and  argue  them  upon  the  merits  of  the  question 
as  it  was  to  put  you  in  possession  of  the  American  stand 
point,  that  you  might  see,  if  we  did  err,  what  was  the 
reason  of  our  erriiig.  I  wish,  for  instance,  to  illustrate  it 
by  one  single  case,  and  that  was  the  Trent  difficulty.  I 
think  it  was  in  Manchester  I  mentioned  the  strong  feel 
ing  that  existed  in  America  upon  this  point.  And  the 
London  Daily  News — a  paper  to  which  I  should  be  glad 
to  express  the  great  obligations  of  American  citizens,  if 
I  were  not  afraid  it  might  be  employed  against  it  to 
diminish  its  influence  with  Britons — ("  No,  no  ") — I  say 
that  paper  in  a  friendly  spirit  criticised  my  utterances, 
and  said  that  it  would  damage  my  testimony  with  English 
people  to  be  so  far  wrong  and  mistaken  in  facts  about 
that  question  ;  and  that  it  would  damage  my  testimony 


278 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


amongst  English  people  on  questions  with  which  I  was 
better  informed.  They  did  not  specify  however,  what 
was  my  mistake,  Now,  I  want  just  to  specify  to  you  how 
we  Americans  looked  at  that  transaction,  not  for  the  pur 
pose  of  putting  ourselves  right  and  you  wrong,  but  to  ask 
you  as  I  shall,  when  I  have  made  my  statement,  if  you 
had  been  in  our  situation,  and  things  looked  to  you  as 
they  did  to  us,  would  you  not  have  felt  as  we  did  ?  Is 
not  that  fair?  (Cheers.)  You  will  recollect,  then,  that 
an  American  naval  vessel  by  accident — if  there  be  such 
things  as  accidents — overhauled  an  English  mail  steamer, 
and  took  from  it  two  men  who  represented  themselves  as 
ambassadors  from  the  so-called  Confederate  Government 
to  the  courts  of  England  and  France  respectively.  I 
remember  very  well,  when  the  ship  came  from  Europe, — 
and  the  tidings  spread  across  America  as  quick  as  light 
ning  could  flash, — that  for  a  day  or  two  the  universal 
feeling  was,  "  Here's  a  stupendous  joke."  Everybody 
laughed.  It  struck  the  comical  feeling  of  the  nation  that 
these  two  men  should  have  started  off  to  represent  the 
Confederates  at  St.  James's,  and  in  Paris,  and  instead, 
had  found  themselves  in  Fort  Lafayette  (Laughter.) 
And  there  was  a  feeling  of  immense  good  nature,  and 
even  jollity.  Then,  after  two  or  three  days,  some  lawyer- 
men  began  to  inquire  in  the  papers,  "  What  is  the  law  on 
this  subject  ?  It  may  be  a  very  good  joke,  but  what  says 
the  law  ? "  We  began  to  draw  down  our  faces  and  say, 
"  Sure  enough  there  is  an  England,  and  she  will  have  a 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  279 

word  to  say.     What  then  is  the  law  ?  "     Then   began  to 
be  quoted  what  the  English  doctrine  was ;  our  papers  be 
gan  to  be  rilled  with  English  precedents  and  English  con 
duct,  and  there  was  a  universal  feeling  that  we  had  acted 
according  to  English   precedent.      That  conviction   is  yet 
unchanged,  and  never  will  be  changed,  because  it  was  the  fact. 
(Cheers.)     But   I  had  the  opportunity  of  knowing  from 
my  position,  both  as  preacher,    lecturer,  and  editor,  that 
the  feeling  of  the  people  was,  "We  are  going  to  do  what 
is  right  now,    whatever   it  is.     If  we  are   in  the   wrong, 
we    shall   concede    this  matter;    but    if    we  are   in   the 
right,    we    will    not    budge    an    inch,    neither  by  bully 
ing    nor    intimidation."       And  the    moment     the    infor 
mation  came   to    our    shores  of  these  facts,     Mr.    Sew- 
ard    addressed    a    confidential    communication    to    Mr. 
Adams,   instructing   him   to  read  the   same  to  Earl  Rus 
sell,  the   purport  of  which  was,  that  this  had  been  done 
without  the  privity  or  assent  of  the  American  Government, 
who  were  prepared,  on  the  statement  of  England's  wishes, 
to  settle  this  matter  amicably.     Mr.  Adams  read  that  to 
Earl  Russell,  and  it  lay  nine  or  ten  days  quiet.     The  letter 
being  confidential,  Mr.  Adams  scrupulously  avoided  speak 
ing  of  it ;  but  it  leaked  out   nevertheless  that  there  had 
been  a  communication  from  the  American  Government  to 
the   English,  and   everybody   was    asking    what   was    its 
nature.     This  communication   having  been  read,  I  think, 
on  the  igth  of  December,  it  would  be  about  the  2gth  that 
your  Morning  Post — which  is  supposed  to  be  a  semi-offi- 


28o          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

cial  organ — declared  that  there  had  been  a  communica 
tion  from  the  American  Government,  but  that  it  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Trent  affair.  And,  whereas  it  was 
a  communication  expressly  on  that  and  nothing  else,  to 
this  hour  that  paper  has  never  explained  nor  retracted 
that  malicious  and  deliberate  falsehood.  From  that  point, 
I  believe,  complication  began.  But  there  was  something 
before  that.  Even  before  that  message  came  from  Wash 
ington,  and  before  the  British  Government  had  heard 
what  we  had  to  say,  orders  had  issued  that  British  troops 
should  repair  to  Canada,  and  the  navy  and  dockyards 
were  put  on  double  labor.  England  has  never  shown 
want  of  promptness  and  spirit ;  but  I  believe  you  can 
find  no  other  case  in  English  history  in  which  a  misunder 
standing  between  ships  of  two  nations  has  been  treated 
with  similar  precipitancy  not  waiting  to  hear  explanations, 
but  preparing  war,  or  threatening  war,  before  you  could 
possibly  have  the  real  facts.  As  to  what  took  place  on 
the  other  side,  I  am  alleged  to  have  been  all  wrong  when 
I  said  the  American  Government  showed  instant  disposi 
tion  to  make  reparation  ;  because,  on  the  other  hand  we 
heaped  honors  on  Captain  Wilkes  all  through  the  nation. 
When  we  thought  we  were  right  we  did ;  but  after  we 
found  out  by  the  declaration  of  our  own  Government  that 
we  were  wrong,  point  me  to  one  instance,  in  which  even 
the  slightest  popular  assembly  undertook  to  traverse  the 
decision  of  our  Government,  by  showing  attention  to 
Captain  Wilkes  ?  As  to  whether  we  did  not  use  all  possible 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  28l 

speed,  let  us  see  what  were  the  facts.  Mr.  Seward  wrote 
to  the  English  Government  saying,  we  were  prepared  to 
settle  the  matter  satisfactorily  to  them,  and  awaited  their 
demands.  Many  say  :  we  ought  not  to  have  waited  their 
demands,  but  given  up  the  men  instantly.  But  there  were 
conflicting  doctrines  as  to  the  rights  of  Governments  over 
contraband  of  war  in  neutral  vessels.  There  was  the 
British  doctrine  and  there  was  the  American  doctrine. 
From  1807  certainly  to  1813,  and  I  know  not  how  much 
longer,  the  British  doctrine  was  that  you  had  a  right  to 
condemn  a  neutral  vessel  without  bringing  her  into  a  prize 
court.  That  was  the  British  doctrine  and  practice  down 
to  within  a  few  years.  I  think  the  last  recognized  case — 
I  won't  undertake  to  say  it  is  the  last  case — is  that  in 
which  England  acted  upon  the  American  doctrine,  when 
they  took  a  Bremen  vessel  and  condemned  her  in  an  Eng 
lish  court  because  she  was  bringing  the  crew  of  a  wrecked 
Russian  vessel  from  Japan  home.  She  was  condemned 
by  a  prize  court,  and  that  is  the  first  instance  I  know  of 
the  American  doctrine  being  acted-  on  by  the  English 
Government  or  navy.  Now,  when  Mr.  Seward  wrote  to 
Mr.  Adams  he  said  thus  : — Here  is  the  old  British  doc 
trine,  which  they  have  never  given  up  technically,  and 
here  is  the  American.  Which  of  the  two  is  the  British 
Government  going  to  take  with  respect  to  Mr.  Mason  and 
Mr.  Slidell  ?  If  their  own,  we  have  committed  no  offence, 
and  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  said.  If  our  doctrine, 
evidently  we  must  wait  for  them  to  make  their  own  elec- 


282          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

tion — I  ask  you  then,  was  that  not  a  courteous  and  just 
reason  for  waiting  till  the  overture  should  come  from  the 
English  Government  instead  of  from  ours,  as  to  what 
should  be  done  in  the  case  of  these  men  ?  Now,  all  these 
facts  are  perfectly  known  to  our  people,  and  I  ask  you  not 
to  renew  this  old  subject.  It  is  past  for  good,  I  hope, 
and  it  rests  in  peace.  But  then,  I  want  you  so  far  to  re 
view  these  facts  as  when  men  say  "  The  Americans  have 
shown  an  arrogant  and  intemperate  spirit  towards  Great 
Britain,  and  without  reason  in  that  Trent  affair," — I  want 
you  then  to  say,  "  Every  man,  and  I  for  one  if  I  had  been 
an  American,  should  have  felt  just  as  they  felt."  And  I 
want  to  say  one  thing  more,  and  it  is  this,  that  we  were 
all  very  much  surprised  when  Mr.  Seward  issued  his  deci 
sion.  But  so  it  was  and  so  it  stands.  I  make  these  ex 
planations  in  the  furtherance  of  a  better  understanding 
between  us,  so  that  there  may  be  no  unpleasant  memory, 
and  no  coal  that  has  not  gone  out  in  the  embers  and 
ashes  of  this  old  question.  Also  I  wish  to  revert  to  a  cer 
tain  topic,  because  I  am  informed  that  I  have  been  de 
stroyed  by  several  papers,  body  and  soul,  honor  and  repu 
tation,  because  of  gross  and  intentional  misstatements 
made  in  Edinburgh.  •  I  cannot  tell  the  paper  that  has 
originated  it,  nor  would  I  if  1  could.  I  am  informed  that 
my  statements  made  respecting  the  circulation  of  money 
were  totally  at  variance  with  the  fact.  Now  all  I  can  say 
is,  if  these  statements  were  not  correct,  I  certainly  should 
be  guilty  of  ignorance,  though  not  intentionally.  Let  me 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  283 

then  state  to  you,  availing  myself  of  this  opportunity,  what 
I  understand  about  the  condition  of  the  North  fiscally, 
and  of  material  prosperity  in  this  time  of  war.  My  ven 
erable  and  excellent  friend,  Dr.  Massie,  is  present — 
(cheers) — and  I  speak  as  before  one  who  knows  the  truth, 
and  although  I  have  never  till  this  morning  seen  him — 
may  I  see  him  a  thousand  times  hereafter — though  I,  of 
course,  know  nothing  of  his  opinions,  yet  I  know  he  is  an 
honest  man,  and  know  what  an  honest  man  must  say  in 
respect  of  certain  points  in  our  American  affairs.  I  say 
he  will  not  rebuke  me  for  saying  there  never  was  a  time  of 
such  material  or  moral  prosperity  as  in  the  North  at  this 
time.  Burdened  as  we  are  with  war,  there  never  was  a 
time  when  husbandry  was  carried  on  with  more  alacrity  or 
success,  when  every  conceivable  form  of  productive  indus 
try,  and  of  manufacturing  through  its  whole  range,  was 
more  pressed  by  demand.  It  is  not  as  it  was  in  Man 
chester  just  before  this  war,  when  you  had  manufactured 
far  beyond  the  consumption  of  your  customers.  It  is  not 
speculative.  There  never  was  a  time  when  monetary  af 
fairs  were  so  easy,  and  I  think  so  healthy,  notwithstanding 
the  contrary  opinion  of  the  editor  of  the  Times'  money 
articles.  You  say,  we  shall  come  to  a  crash.  It  may  be 
we  shall,  though  we  are  going  to  it  by  a  very  pleasant 
way.  (Laughter.)  But  are  we  doing  this  upon  an  inflat 
ed  paper  currency,  without  a  proper  basis  and  proper 
security  ?  Paper  must  represent  convertible  property. 
Is  there  more  paper  in  circulation  in  the  North  than 


284          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

there  is  actual  and  available  property  in  the  North  which 
it  represents  ?  On  that  subject  I  declare  it  makes  no 
difference  whether  paper  is  issued  by  State  banks,  or  in 
dividual  brokers,  or  the  National  Government ;  if  there 
is  never  more  paper  than  is  needed,  all  then  is  safe,  for 
there  is  no  more  paper  than  they  have  means  to  convert. 
Again,  you  may  always  issue  more  paper  than  you  can 
convert  in  any  one  day.  Three  bills  to  one  pound  of 
bullion  is  a  safe  measure.  The  exact  state  of  affairs  in 
the  North  was,  that  this  uprising  so  deranged  business 
that  it  compelled  a  universal  settlement.  I  don't  know 
how  it  is  in  England  ;  but  in  America  we  need  a  financial 
judgment  day  once  in  ten  years,  and  we  get  it.  These 
crashes,  although  in  one  way  of  looking  at  them  they  are 
unfavorable,  in  another  are  always  beneficial.  A  new 
country  must  have  credit.  As  countries  grow  old  and 
rich,  they  can  contract  it  more  and  more,  but  a  new 
country,  that  has  its  resources  to  develop,  requires  credit, 
and  with  it  you  must  have  the  attendant  evils  of  intense 
stimulation  of  hopeful  and  sanguine  natures.  Once  in 
ten  years  you  work  out,  so  that  the  thing  comes  clear 
round.  There  is  a  kind  of  miscellaneous  crash,  in  which 
every  man  picks  up  his  own.  The  bubble  is  broken — the 
paper  is  gone  ;  and  the  property  remains.  The  man  that 
yesterday  said  :  this  is  my  house,  does  not  say  so  to 
morrow,  but  the  community  is  not  hurt ;  the  property  is 
there — the  difference  is  that  the  owners  have  shifted. 
(Laughter.)  Now,  what  of  these  commercial  reverses  ? 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  285 

It  is  said  they  are  unhealthy,  but  it  is  not  of  that  kind  of 
unhealthiness  that  many   political   economists  have    be 
lieved  ;  and  these  periodical  settlements  are  always  salu 
tary.     We   had    a  settlement  in  1857,  and   there  was  the 
less  at  the  beginning  of  this  war  to  be  settled.     But  what 
there  was,  we  swept  out  of  the  way.     And  since  the  day 
when   the  infant   colony  of   Plymouth   Bay  had   to  pay  50 
per  cent,   for  money  loaned 'to  her  in  England,  I  do   not 
believe  there  has  ever  been  so  sound  a  state  of  business 
in  the  North  as  to-day.     And  your  business  men  in  Man 
chester  will  see  that  these  reasons  work  that  way.     One 
thing  more  :  the  thing  does  not  stop  there.     As  there  is 
more  or  less  of  uncertainty  in  the  commercial  world,  men 
will  no  longer  go  on  the  credit  system  as  before.     They 
are  buying   for  cash  ;  then    going    home  and    selling   for 
cash.     Some  of  you  in  Manchester  can  say,  whether  it  is 
not  the  case  here  to  an  extent  never  before  known,  that 
American  merchants  are  buying  for  cash.     The  business 
is  taking  that  direction  ;  certainly  it  is  in  America.     Not 
that  there  may  not  be  facts  the  other  wray,  but  this  is  in 
the  main  true.     Suppose  there  come  bye-and-bye  further 
financial    difficulties,  how   are   you  going    to  bankrupt   a 
nation  which  has  no  foreign  debts  ?     You  recollect   the 
story  of  the  Frenchman  in  Boston.     He  had  got  money 
enough  and  goods  enough,  but    thought  a  man  ought    to 
fail  when  he  could    not  collect    his  debts.     We    may  fail 
so,  but  I  don't  see  any  other  form  of  bankruptcy  awaiting 
us.     Our  Government  are  issuing  bonds  largely  that  are 


286          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

becoming  the  basis  of  the  whole  banking  system  in  her 
North.  The  Government  bonds  become  the  securities  of 
our  State  banks.  They  issue  Government  notes  as  their 
circulation,  and  although  there  is  an  immense  amount  of 
Government  notes  in  circulation  they  are  taking  the 
place  of  the  individual  State  bank-notes  we  have  been 
driving  in.  I  do  not  profess  to  be  fully  informed,  but  my 
impression  is,  there  is  no  more  paper  money  in  circula 
tion  now  than  there  has  been  at  many  periods  in  Ameri 
can  history,  only,  it  is  not  a  circulation  of  individual 
banks,  nor  of  States  ;  it  is  a  circulation  of  the  total  Unit 
ed  States  ;  and  whereas  before  these  bills  had  the  secu 
rity  of  what  was  in  the  vault  of  the  individual  bank  or  of 
the  State,  now  the  guarantee  of  these  bills  with  the  same 
circulation  is  the  guarantee  of  the  credit  and  total  prop 
erty  of  the  United  States.  Neither  can  I  state  (as  I 
should  have  done  if  I  had  supposed  I  was  to  be  called  on 
for  these  facts)  exactly  how  much  has  been  invested  ; 
but  probably  four  or  five  hundred  millions  of  the  capital 
of  the  North,  not  invested  already  in  busi-ness,  has  been 
invested  in  what  are  called  Government  securities,  which 
are  just  your  Consols  over  again.  Our  people  feel  two 
things — first,  that  our  Government  must  stand;  and, 
secondly,  that  it  will  stand,  and  it  is  safe  to  invest  in  it. 
Our  savings  banks,  insurance  companies,  trust-fund  com 
missioners,  and  men  who  have  in  charge  the  money  of 
widows  and  orphans — old  men  who  wish  to  secure  them 
selves  against  contingencies  and  bankruptcies,  men  who 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  28/ 

have  sums  in  hand  and  are  looking  about  for  investment, 
are  showing  that  of  all  securities  none  seems  to  them  so 
sound  as  the  faith  and  credit  of  the  Government  of  the 
United  States.  (Loud  cheers.)  And  hundreds  of  mill 
ions  of  dollars  have  been  invested  in  that  way  ;  so  that  I 
may  say  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has  a  lien 
upon  all  the  inoperative  capital  of  the  North  and  West, 
and  it  has  become  the  interest  of  every  business  man  and 
every  moneyed  man  in  the  whole  Northern  States,  to  main- 
tain  the  Government  as  the  way  to  maintain  himself. 
Now  then  if  it  be  said  that  I  have  stated  that  the  Govern 
ment  paper  had  been  issued  as  only  three  to  one  of 
bullion,  I  never  made  any  statement  on  that  question  at 
all ;  but  that  since  the  Central  Government  issued  this 
paper — since  it  represents  not  only  what  has  been  paid 
in  for  these  bonds  as  invested,  but  represents  also  the 
total  available  property  of  the  Federation  itself,  it  is  a 
better  circulation  than  that  of  local  banks,  which  issue 
three  papers  to  one  pound  of  bullion — that  is  what  I 
meant  to  say  at  Edinburgh,  whether  I  said  it  or  not. 
And  it  is  what  I  say  in  this  great  capital  of  business, 
in  England.  I  cannot,  of  course,  speak  authoritatively  in 
this  matter.  I  am  not  a  financier,  I  am  not  a  banker, 
but  a  clergyman  and  a  patriot  only.  If  you  were  to 
get  hold  of  a  man  who  knew  a  great  deal  more,  he 
would  state  the  matter  still  more  strongly.  If  there 
is  anything  I  have  inadvertently  omitted  to  notice 
on  this  fiscal  question,  I  shall  be  ready  to  attend  to 


288          HENR  Y  IV A  RD  BEE  CHER  *S  SPEE  CHES 

any  question  that  may  be  put  to  me  now.  (Mr.  Beecher 
paused,  and  then  resumed.)  I  may  presume,  then,  that 
you  are  satisfied.  (Applause.)  Now  there  is  some  art 
in  speaking  so  as  to  relieve  one  subject  against  another, 
and,  having  given  you  a  few  words  upon  currency,  and  a 
sound  state  of  business  in  the  North,  I  will  turn  to  that 
letter  in  one  of  your  local  papers,  to  which  my  friend  Mr. 
Taylor  referred,  containing  those  three  questions,  which 
the  writer  says  have  never  received  straightforward 
answers.  I  will  endeavor  to  show  you  what  a  straight 
forward  answer  is.  The  first  question  is,  "  Do  colored 
persons  ever  attend  your  church  in  Brooklyn  ?  "  Yes,  by 
scores  and  hundreds.  (Cheers.)  Second,  "  If  so,  where 
do  they  sit  ?  "  Wherever  they  can  get  a  seat.  (Cheers 
and  laughter.)  Allow  me  to  say  our  church  will  hold 
but  3000,  and  it  is  extremely  difficult  for  any  one  to 
get  a  seat.  I  have  said  humorously,  in  expostulating 
with  our  people,  that  they  are  sometimes  impatient  of 
having  so  little  use  of  their  own  pews,  for  which  they 
pay  an  inordinate  rent.  "Gentlemen,  you  know  very 
well  when  you  rent  pews  here  what  it  means  ;  you  pay 
300  dollars  for  a  pew  for  the  sake  of  sitting  in  the  aisle, 
and  you  knew  it  when  you  bought  your  pew."  It  is  ex 
pressly  stipulated  that  if  a  man  is  not  in  his  pew  to  de 
fend  it  within  a  certain  number  of  minutes  after  the  ser 
vice  begins,  he  forfeits  his  right  to  sit  there.  It  is  in  his 
article  of  sale.  We  have  from  16  to  25  active  and  en 
terprising  men  whose  sole  business  is  to  seat  people  in 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  289 

our  church  ;  and  sometimes,  when  there  is  a  public  ques 
tion  involving  great  interests,  the  entrances  to  the  church 
are  thronged  for  hours  before  the  doors  are  open.  Well ; 
when  our  own  pew-holders  have  to  bustle  for  their  own 
seats,  because  strangers  may  come  an  hour  beforehand  ; 
when  this  has  been  going  on  for  sixteen  continuous  years 
— if  you  ask  me  whether  we  take  colored  people  by 
platoons,  and  walk  them  up  and  seat  them  on  a 
platform — why,  we  don't  treat  them  any  better  than  white 
folks.  (Loud  laughter,  and  cheers.)  We  treat  them 
just  as  we  do  white  folks.  Now,  let  me  say  this,  I  have 
never  exerted  any  direct  influence  on  this  subject ;  it  has 
only  been  the  Christian  feeling  and  good  sense  of  my 
own  parishioners  that  have  led  them  to  determine  their 
line  of  action  towards  colored  people  within  the  body  of 
the  church.  And  what  does  it  mean  ?  I  have  never  yet 
known  an  instance  in  which  a  colored  man  was  refused  a 
seat,  if  he  were  properly  dressed,  well  behaved,  and  mod 
estly  asked  for  a  seat.  I  have  myself  invited  Frederick 
Douglass  and  other  men  to  sit  in  my  own  pew.  Some 
times  a  man  says  to  me, — "  I  would  come,  but  I  am 
afraid."  But  I  give  him  a  note  to  one  of  my  friends  and 
then  he  finds  no  trouble.  To  make  so  much  of  it,  would 
seem  as  if  I  was  boasting  of  the  liberality  of  our  people. 
It  is  just  a  matter  of  course,  of  Christian  common  sense. 
If  my  answer  is  not  j/ra/^/forward,  it  is  because  I  had 
to  go  round  to  get  all  this.  (Cheers  and  laughter.) 
Third,  "  Have  you  ever  seen  any  (that  is,  colored  people) 
19 


290          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

amongst  your  congregation  ;  and  would  they  be  allowed 
to  sit  in  any  pew  of  your  church,  or  intermingle  with  your 
white  hearers  ? "  If  my  people  were  like  the  man  who 
wrote  this  letter,  they  would  not  be  permitted  to  sit  a 
moment  there.  (Cheers.)  That  is  not  a  mere  jibe.  I 
will  tell  you  why  I  make  that  remark  in  a  moment.  But 
I  have  seen  them,  not  once  or  twice,  or  fifty,  but  hun 
dreds  of  times.  I  tell  you  the  truth,  gentlemen,  though 
we  are  not  better  than  hundreds  of  other  churches.  We 
have  been  led  by  acquiescence  in  those  great  truths 
preached  in  Plymouth  church  ;  that  man  is  not  what  he  is 
on  account  of  title,  education,  or  wealth,  but  because 
God  made  him  and  loves  him,  and  God  will  redeem  him 
to  immortality  and  glory.  (Cheers.)  And  that  broad 
ground  has  led  us  to  feel  insensibly,  more  and  more, 
that  a  man  in  the  house  of  God  is  to  be  treated  as  we 
would  treat  that  man  on  the  threshold  of  the  judgment 
day.  And  now,  these  words  will  go  back  to  America, 
and  I  shall  have  them  set  down  to  me  there,  and  shall 
stand  to  every  word  I  have  said  on  America.  The  close 
of  the  letter,  containing  these  queries,  is  as  follows  : — "  I 
could  multiply  instances  to  almost  any  extent  of  brutality 
towards  the  colored  people  in  the  North,  and  of  kindness 
and  indulgence  towards  them  in  the  South,  which  I  wit 
nessed  during  a  long  and  protracted  tour  through  the 
States.  Though  my  original  antipathy  to  slavery  was 
never  eradicated,  I  came  to  this  conclusion, — that  a 
slave  in  the  South  was  a  far  gayer  and  happier  creature 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  29 1 

than  a  free  black  in  the  North."  There  you  have  it. 
Ah  !  there  never  was  a  serpent  yet  that  was  taught  to 
speak  in  human  language  that  first  or  last  the  sibilation 
did  not  come  out.  Whenever  I  find  a  man  undertake  to 
tell  me,  that  any  human  creature,  considered  in  the 
totality  that  makes  up  a  man,  in  his  body  and  soul — in 
his  loves,  independence,  and  purities — in  his  relations  to 
time  and  eternity — is  a  better  man  in  slavery  than  he  is 
out  of  it,  I  say,  "  Thou  son  of  the  devil,  get  thee  behind 
me."  (Loud  cheering.)  On  the  other  side,  let  me  say 
pointedly,  that  the  treatment  in  the  North  of  the  blacks 
was  bad — that  we  imbibed  prejudice  from  the  South — 
that  the  poison  of  slavery  in  every  fibre  of  our  body, 
wrought  out  bad  laws  and  usages  ; — nevertheless,  the  party 
now  predominant  throughout  the  North,  though  once  a  small 
minority,  has  fought  up  against  that  prejudice  and  wrong, 
until  at  last  it  is  in  ascendancy  :  and  Englishmen  are  asked 
now  to  strike  us,  who  have  been  martyrs  for  freedom,  be 
cause  of  the  prejudices  which  came  from  the  men  who  are 
now  in  rebellion.  (Great  cheering.)  And  I  avow,  there 
is  a  good  deal  of  work  yet  to  be  done.  We  do  not  ap 
pear  before  you  as  a  saint-like  people ;  we  are,  just  like 
you,  in  the  midst  of  struggles  where  all  sorts  of  influences 
are  in  combination.  We  have  fought  so  far  with  com 
plete  success — thanks  to  God  ;  but  it  is  not  done  yet. 
There  are  many  things  we  need  to  change,  and  are  trying 
to  change.  All  we  ask  is,  that  when  our  faces  are  as  it 
were  turned  towards  Jerusalem,  you  will  not  stop  us. 


292          &ENR  Y  WARD  BEECH ER  'S  SPEECHES 

(Loud  cheers.)     And  I  say  still  further,  that  in  respect  to 
that  riot  which   took   place   in   New  York,  and  so  much 
used  adversely  to   us,   I  here,  and   accountable  for  what 
I  say,  declare  my  conviction   that   that  riot  was   nothing 
in   the  world  but  the  sore  made  by  a  foreign   blister  put 
on  our  body.     The  rioters  were  as  a  body  unquestionably 
Irishmen.     Now,  you   must   not  think  I   am   saying  this 
in   any   ill-will    to    them.     These    Irish    laborers    come 
to   us   poor    and    uneducated    creatures,    easily    led    by 
more  intelligent  men,  men  who  work  through  their  pas 
sions.     By   corrupt   Americans,   I    am    ashamed    to  say, 
they  have    been   assiduously    taught  that   the   emancipa 
tion  of  the  slave  would  take  away  from  them  the  market 
of   labor,  and  that  emancipation  would  bring  the  whole 
South  northward  ;  which  is  just  the  opposite  to  the  truth, 
that  it  is  likely  to  take  the  whole  colored  North  south 
ward.     But  they  have  been  stuffed  with  falsehood  in  the 
most  offensive  forms,  for  the    purpose   of  making   them 
mischievous  ;  hence  with  the  sting  of  the  draft  just  about 
to  be  put  on  them,  there  was  a  wild  furious  uprising  of 
the  Irish  immigrants.     It  was  very  cruel  and  wicked,  but 
so  cruel  and  wicked  a  thing  was  never  done  with  so  much 
excuse  for  the  wicked  actors  as  this.     They  were  blind, 
ignorant,  misled  creatures,  who  thought  they  were  fighting 
not  so  much  against  the   blacks   as  for  themselves.     I 
make  these  excuses  for  them,  therefore,  and  I  say  this  riot 
was  an  Irish  riot,  just  as  much  as   if  it  had  occurred  in 
Dublin  or  Cork,  instead  of  New  York.     When  Archbishop 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  293 

Hughes  was  called  upon  to  address  them  and  stop  it,  the 
street  before  the  Archiepiscopal  residence  was  alive  with 
the  crowded  thousands ;  his  speech  was  reported,  and  he 
never  intimated  that  he  thought  anybody  else  was  en 
gaged  but  Irishmen.  He  took  it  for  granted  it  was  they  ; 
he  never  excused  them  in  any  way  by  the  oppression  that 
they  had  suffered  in  Old  Ireland.  From  beginning  to 
end  it  is  taken  for  granted  it  was  the  work  of  Catholic 
Irish,  and  he  was  blaming  them  in  his  very  maternal  and 
gentle  way  for  doing  such  naughty  things.  (Laughter.) 
But  what  was  the  conduct  of  the  city  of  New  York  ?  Be 
tween  40,000  and  50,000  dollars  were  subscribed  to  re 
lieve  the  wants  of  these  people  in  a  few  days.  A  large 
committee  was  appointed  from  the  most  respectable  mer 
chants,  men  of  the  highest  business  integrity,  and  of  the 
utmost  honor  and  purity  in  private  life.  I  marked  every 
one  of  them  as  the  men  who  have  been  my  opponents 
from  the  beginning  of  this  agitation  for  sixteen  years — 
men  who  are  intensely  conservative,  or  as  we  call  them, 
"  Old  Hunkers."  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  But  these 
men  had  their  eyes  so  opened  by  this  riot,  that  they  fol 
lowed  their  noble  and  generous  instincts,  so  as  not  only 
to  give  their  money,  but  to  avow  as  plainly  as  words  can 
say :  "  It  has  come  to  this.  If  the  colored  people  are 
thus  violently  treated,  we  will  put  ourselves  between  them 
and  their  assailants,  and  they  shall,  as  long  as  we  live, 
have  the  right  to  labor  in  freedom.  (Loud  cheers.)  "A 
body  of  lawyers  volunteered  to  receive  and  put  into  legal 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


form  the  complaints  of  every  colored  man  who  had  lost 
property  —  according  to  our  law,  the  municipality  is  re 
sponsible  for  every  cent  of  property  damaged  in  the  riot  ; 
—  and  there  have  been  145,000  to  150,000  dollars  in 
volved  in  the  complaints  already  made,  or  making  ;  and 
legal  proceedings  have  cost  the  colored  people  not  a  cent. 
(Cheers.)  The  letter  they  wrote  of  thanks,  which  I  be 
lieve  will  appear  in  the  papers,  is  a  composition  of  the 
most  poetical  English,  and  consummate  Christian  kind 
ness,  showing  what  the  grace  of  God  can  make  appear  in 
the  hearts  of  outcast  men.  Read  that  letter  in  the  report 
of  the  Committee  which  has  just  reached  this  country,  and 
the  reply  of  Mr.  McKenzie,  and  see  how  an  Old  Hunker 
can  speak.  When  I  get  back,  I  mean,  the  first  thing,  to 
go  to  Mr.  McKenzie's  store  and  ask  him  to  honor  me  by 
shaking  hands  Are  there  any  other  questions  about 
these  blacks  ?  [Mr.  Haughton,  of  Dublin  :  "  Are  we  to 
understand  that  the  practice  in  your  own  church  is  the 
universal  practice  in  America;  that  the  black  man  is  as 
respected  in  other  churches  as  in  yours  ?  "]  No,  sir. 
Many  of  our  churches  are  filled  with  men  who  are  the 
first  merchants  of  New  York,  or  are  politicians.  The 
position  of  the  black  man  is  regulated  mainly  by  the  fact 
that  he  is  the  football  bandied  between  side  and  side  ; 
to  treat  him  with  public  attention  has  been  to  abandon 
your  political  party,  and  seem  to  show  confidence  in  the 
other  side.  In  many  churches  of  New  York  —  T  cannot 
speak  positively,  but  my  impression  is  —  they  would  not 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  2Q" 

be  received  except  in  a  particular  pew,  but  a  tendency 
has  now  been  established,  and  is  every  week  increasing 
to  receive  them  when  they  come  in  the  churches.     It  is' 
a   process   begun.     Dr.  Massie   confirms    my  statement. 
I  do  not  want  to  make  out  our  case  any  better  than  it  is. 
We  do  not  move  in  perfection  as   the  saints  in  glory  do  ; 
all  we  can  ask  of  men  is,  Are  they  in  the  right  direction 
and  making  progress  ?     I  want  now  to  add  a  word  or  two 
with  respect  to  some  questions  proposed  to  me  last  week. 
A  Mr.  David  M'Crae,  I  think,  of  Glasgow,  proposed  a 
question  as  to  the  Constitution  which  I  did  not  then  quite 
understand.     The  gist  of  it,  as  far  as  I  remember,  is  this  : 
—speaking  of  the  fugitive  slave  clause  of  the  Constitution 
—his  question  was,  Are  you  fighting  for  the  Constitution 
with  that  clause  in  it  ?     If  you  are,  how  do  you  pretend 
that  you  are  fighting  for   liberty?     Secondly,  if  you  are 
fighting  for  Emancipation,  you  are  fighting  against  that 
Constitution,    and    how    do   you    condemn    the    seceded 
States  ?  "    I  will  answer  by  a  statement  of  facts,  and  leave 
you  to  settle  the  logic.     In  the  first  place,  What  is  the  re 
lation  of  our  Constitution  to  slavery  ?— First,  it  contains 
the  fugitive  slave  clause ;  the  other  is  the  three-fifths  rep- 
resentation  clause.     I  will  take  the  last  first.     That  clause 
does  not  legalize  slavery.     It  merely  says  (as  if  the  found 
ers  of  the  Constitution  recognized  it  as  a  fact,  but  not  a 
doctrine  or  principle),  "  five  men  other  than  free  whites 
shall  count  for  three  votes."     Now  what  is  the  origin  of 
that  ?     When  we  first  formed  our  present  Constitution 


296         HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER  'S  SPEECHES 

having  had  ten  years  trial  of  what  was  called  Articles  of 
Confederation,  the  difficulty  that  struck  the  Government, 
as  it  strikes  every  Government,  first  was,  "  How  can  you 
raise  funds  to  carry  on  the  Government  ? "  First,  taxes 
were  laid  on  the  lands  in  all  the  country.  But  it  was 
found  impossible  to  obtain  the  statistics  which  were  re 
quisite  for  levying  the  tax  justly,  and  therefore  they  must 
change  their  system.  It  was  then  proposed  they  should 
tax  the  people  per  capita.  Then  came  the  question : 
As  the  vast  majority  are  white  and  free  in  the  North, 
and  as  an  immense  proportion  in  the  South  are  slaves, 
if  you  should  tax  according  to  the  free  whites,  the  North 
would  pay  nineteen-twentieths  of  the  taxes,  and  the 
South  only  one-twentieth  part,  having  the  monopoly  of 
wealth.  Therefore  the  North  said,  in  assessing  the  taxes 
you  must  call  every  able-bodied  black,  as  well  as  white 
man,  one.  The  South  said,  "  No,  we  are  willing  to  count 
four  as  one."  That  is  the  extreme  on  that  side,  and  you 
see  just  how  it  was.  It  was  on  a  question  of  raising 
money,  whether  the  tax  should  he  raised  on  the  whole 
black  population  or  not,  or  whether  it  should  be  raised  on 
a  white  voting  population,  excluding  Indians  and  slaves. 
And  it  was  Mr.  Madison  who  proposed  a  middle  term  as 
the  compromise.  He  said,  "  Five  shall  count  three  in 
stead  of  one  counting  one,  or  four  counting  one."  So  it 
was  settled  that,  in  laying  taxes  on  the  South,  there  shall 
be  three  men  taxed  where  there  are  five  black  men  in  the 
South.  But  in  settling  the  basis  for  taxation,  they  set- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  297 

tied  at  the  same  time  the  basis  for  representation.  A 
few  years  afterwards  we  ceased  to  raise  our  revenue  by 
taxation  at  all,  and  the  very  thing  on  which  this  compro 
mise  had  been  made  ceased  to  exist.  Then  came  in  the 
unexpected  operation  of  this  clause  on  representation, 
which  was  a  shadowy  sequence  scarcely  understood  to  be 
of  much  importance,  but  had  become  of  prime  importance 
when  the  North  was  represented  in  Congress  by  a  repre 
sentation  of  men  alone,  while  the  South  was  represented 
both  in  the  number  of  men  and  the  amount  of  property. 
The  South  is  represented  both  in  property  and  in  men  ; 
the  North  simply  in  men,  and  [not  in  property.  This 
clause  became,  by  an  unforeseen  accident,  of  strength  to 
the  South.  To-morrow,  if  slavery  totally  ceased,  that 
Constitution  would  not  have  to  be  changed  in  a  single 
letter  in  that  regard.  There  is  nothing  that  guarantees 
or  perpetuates  it,  or  carries  the  consequence  along  with 
it  as  inevitable.  The  other  clause  in  the  Constitution, 
concerning  rendition  of  fugitives,  appeared  in  our  history 
first  when  New  England,  which  was  just  as  much  slave- 
owning  as  the  South,  formed  the  first  rudimental  Union. 
So  jealous  were  the  States  of  their  individual  sovereignty, 
that  nothing  but  external  wars  and  difficulties  drove  them 
together,  and  they  passed  the  substance  of  this  fugitive 
slave  clause.  It  did  not  appear  in  the  Articles  of  Confed 
eration  in  1777,  but  in  1787  the  present  Constitution  took 
away  from  each  State  the  right  to  pass  laws  in  contraven 
tion  of  laws  existing  in  other  States  ;  that  is  to  say,  no 


298          HENR  Y  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

man  held  to  service  in  one  State  shall  be  discharged 
therefrom  by  another  State  into  which  he  may  go.  It  is 
a  law  for  the  peace  of  the  whole  Ur^ion,  taking  away  the 
power  of  one  State  to  nullify  the  laws  of  another  State. 
Congress  and  the  Federal  power  are  not  even  alluded  to 
in  the  clause.  Then  it  went  on  to  provide  that  such  per 
sons  shall,  upon  proper  proof,  be  rendered  up  again  to 
their  claimants,  on  whom  the  proof  was  purposely  left. 
But  that  is  the  fugitive  slave  clause.  In  the  convention 
where  it  was  adopted,  it  was  attempted  to  include  this 
clause  in  the  one  that  in  our  present  Constitution  pre 
cedes  it,  namely,  in  Section  2  of  Article  4: — "A  person 
charged  in  any  State  with  treason,  felony,  or  other  crime, 
\vho  shall  flee  from  justice  and  be  found  in  another 
State,  shall,  on  demand  of  the  executive  authority  of  the 
State  from  which  he  fled,  be  delivered  up  to  be  removed 
to  the  State  having  jurisdiction  of  the  crime."  The  execu 
tive  can  only  have  conference  with  the  executive  of  another 
State,  so  where  there  were  crimes  and  felonies,  the  Arti 
cle  requires  that  the  executive  of  one  State  shall  demand 
of  the  executive  of  another  to  deliver  the  criminal  up." 
And  it  was  attempted  to  introduce  into  this  the  words, 
"and  persons  held  to  servitude  ;"  but  it  was  unanimously 
voted  down,  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  more  reason 
to  constrain  the  Government  to  return  any  slave,  than 
to  ask  them  to  return  any  ox  or  ass,  and  they  would  not 
push  the  States  to  that  indignity.  Then  the  next  clause 
is  the  following  : — "  No  person  held  to  service  or  labor 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  299 

in  one  State  under  the  laws  thereof,  escaping  into 
another,  shall  in  consequence  of  any  law  or  regulation 
therein  be  discharged  from  such  service  or  labor,  but 
shall  be  delivered  up  on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such 
service  or  labor  may  be  due."  When  it  was  first  intro 
duced,  the  terms  were  "  any  person  held  to  servitude,  or 
in  servitude."  The  first  attempt  was  to  reject  that. 
Why  ?  Because  it  was  declared  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States  should  not  recognize  slavery.  Mr.  Madison 
has  left  his  impartial  and  unquestionable  authority  on  the 
subject,  that  the  day  was  anticipated  when  slavery  should 
cease  ;  and  the  builders  of  the  Constitution  so  framed  it, 
that  while  it  knew  how  to  steer  round  slavery  while  it 
existed,  it  should  be  whole  and  perfect  when  slavery 
ceased.  The  Northern  view,  in  reference  to  the  opera 
tion  of  this,  was,  that  if  a  slave  escaped  from  Maryland 
into  Pennsylvania,  and  the  master  found  his  slave  there, 
and  brought  proof  before  magistrate  and  jury  that  it  was 
his  beast  of  burden,  he  should  take  it  back  if  he  could. 
Thus  it  left  the  man  to  manage  his  own  property  without 
being  hindered  or  obstructed.  What,  then,  is  the  objec 
tion  we  take  to  the  fugitive  slave  law  of  1850  ?  That  to 
please  the  South  it  was  laid  down  to  be  a  duty  of  the  whole 
United  States  to  hunt  the  slave  down  WITHOUT  PROOF,  and 
at  the  mere  summons  of  the  claim  a  fit,  to  deliver  up  the  person 
claimed  and  saddle  the  costs  on  the  population  of  the  United 
States.  I  answer  then,  in  respect  to  this  whole  subject, 
that  if  to-morrow  slavery  should  cease  by  the  force  of 


300 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


arms,  the  Constitution  is  not  touched,  nor  is  a  right  that 
is  guaranteed  by  this  Constitution  impaired  ;  for  as  long 
as  slavery  exists  there  is  an  Article  which  gives  a  man 
the  right  to  go  and  find  his  slave  and  take  him  back  with 
out  molestation,  and  that  is  bad  enough  ;  but  if  to-mor 
row  slavery  ceases  to  exist,  what  change  is  there  to  be 
made  ?  For  our  courts  have  construed  that  the  term 
"persons  held  to  service,"  includes  all  apprentices  under 
indenture,  and  that  a  slave  is  included  in  that,  not  as  a 
slave,  but  by  virtue  of  the  fact  that  he  is  held  to  service. 
Are  we  then,  by  maintaining  the  Constitution,  maintain 
ing  slavery?  No,  not  at  all — slavery  does  not  exist  in 
the  Constitution,  nor  by  virtue  of  it.  It  has  been  settled 
a  hundred  times  by  the  lawyers  of  every  slave  State  that 
slavery  is  a  local  institution,  and  can  exist  only  by  special 
local  statutes.  Nay,  the  very  conflict  between  the  South, 
under  Mr.  Douglas,  and  the  nascent  republican  party, 
was  whether  slavery  should  be  local  and  municipal,  or 
national.  They  tried  to  make  it  national ;  that  is 
the  last  form  of  the  political  conflict  between  North 
and  South — they  seeking  to  show  that  the  Constitution 
did  endorse  slavery,  and  we  saying  the  Constitution 
never  did,  and  never  shall.  I  don't  know  whether 
Mr.  M'Crae  will  think  I  have  answered  his  ques 
tion,  but  I  am  sure  I  have  tried  to  give  you  grounds  and 
facts  on  which  every  man  can  answer  it  for  himself. — 
[Mr.  Haughton  asked — "  Is  it  not  the  case  that  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  and  his  party  have  invariably  maintained 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^OI 

that  the  Constitution  is  in  favor  of  slavery ;  have  not  the 
judges  of  your  land  so  interpreted  the  Constitution,  and 
has  not  your  Supreme  Court  decided,  that  the  black  man 
has  no  rights  which  the  white  man  is  bound  to  respect."] 
— No  questions  could  be  more  pertinent.  We  all  admit 
that  slavery  existed  as  a  fact  when  the  present  Constitu 
tion  was  adopted ;  that  two  clauses  were  introduced  to 
meet  certain  practical  difficulties  arising  out  of  local  slav 
ery  in  its  relation  to  general  government.  The  framers 
of  the  Constitution  undertook  to  recognize  the  bare  politi 
cal  fact  of  slave  property  then  existing  in  some  States. 
They  undertook  to  form  a  Constitution  which  should  in 
the  widest  scope  represent  liberty,  yet  should  not  abruptly 
destroy  slavery,  but  should  neither  encourage  nor  help  it. 
Now  in  every  slave  State  that  has  given  a  definition  of  slav 
ery,  it  is  declared  to  be  the  condition  in  which  a  man  ceases 
to  be  a  man  and  becomes  a  chattel — a  thing,  not  a  being 
— a  person.  With  this  definition  before  them,  when  the 
Constitution  was  in  formation,  they  after  debate  and  full 
explanation  of  what  they  meant,  declared  they  would  not 
put  into  the  Constitution  a  description  or  allusion  to  slav 
ery  that  should  characterize  it  by  its  technical  term,  but 
only  by  terms  that  brought  it  out  of  "  chattelhood  "  into 
mere  "subordination."  Therefore  in  our  Constitution 
slaves  are  called  "  persons,"  always.  This  was  no  acci 
dent — no  indiscriminate  use  of  words.  It  was  done  by 
men  who  said  among  themselves  "  Not  many  years  can 
pass  before  slavery  will  cease ;  "  and  what  they  tried  to 


302 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


do  was  to  have  a  Constitution  that  could  hold  together 
and  keep  us  afloat  for  the  moment,  but  yet  should  not 
give  countenance  to  slave  doctrines.  When  a  man  under 
takes  to  steer  a  ship  he  does  not  necessarily  include  in 
his  ideas  of  successful  shipbuilding  all  the  shoals  and 
sandbanks  that  may  impede  its  voyage ;  and  when  the 
Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  formed,  the  formers 
merely  made  two  provisions  in  order  that  local  State 
rights  might  be  divested  of  their  power  of  mischief. 
Now,  as  to  public  sentiment.  There  has  been  recently  a 
small  body  of  men  who  held  that  our  Constitution  did  not 
recognize  slavery  as  doctrine  or  fact.  I  differ  with  them 
— it  does  recognize  it  as  fact  but  not  as  doctrine.  Other 
people  say,  "  No  matter  whether  the  Constitution  does  or 
does  not  -;  courts  that  bind  us  have  declared  that  it  does ; 
therefore  let  us  break  the  Union  in  two  to  clear  ourselves." 
That  is  the  party  of  Mr.  Garrison,  and  Mr.  Wendell 
Phillips.  The  great  middle-class  have  said  this  : — "  Slav 
ery  is  dying,  bound  to  die ;  free  men  made  a  Constitution 
for  liberty,  and  made  it  so  that  while  slavery  was  dying, 
the  Constitution  need  not  be  wrecked  by  running  on  it.'* 
As  to  the  decision  of  the  judges,  allow  me  to  say  that  our 
Federal  courts  have  been  packed  by  Southerners ;  while 
the  North  has  had  either  to  accomplish  this  change  by 
revolutionary  process,  or  to  do  it  by  peaceable  methods, 
such  as  are  organized  in  the  Constitution  itself.  We 
knew  perfectly  well  it  was  part  of  the  plan  of  the  South, 
by  packing  the  courts,  and  by  process  of  construction  to 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  303 

transmute  liberty  into  slavery  in  our  laws,  and  in  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  land.  That  was  what  we  believed 
and  prophesied.  We  warned  the  nation,  and  they  would 
not  be  warned.  That  declaration  was  construed  into 
slander  of  the  courts  and  of  men  in  authority,  when  I 
made  it  up  and  down  through  the  land,  and  said,  "  The 
South  are  taking  away  your  Constitution  by  dry-rot,"  but 
give  us  time,  and  we  will  by  popular  discussions  reverse 
this  policy,  and  fill  Congress  and  the  courts  with  different 
men,  and  then  we  will  reconstrue  it  back  again,  and  we 
will  find  yet  the  voice  of  liberty  that  shall  stand  by  the 
Constitution,  and  say  unto  the  bondsman,  "  Come  forth, 
and  he  shall  come  forth,  and  stand  among  living  men,  a 
man  again."  (Cheers.)  This  was  my  doctrine  as  dis 
tinguished  from  that  of  Mr.  Phillips  and  Mr.  Garrison.  I 
have  said,  "  Give  us  time,  there  are  in  our  Constitution 
and  in  our  nation  those  elements  which  will  bring  back  to 
us  liberty  in  the  Constitution  itself."  The  South  knew  it 
just  as  well  as  the  North.  But  they  lay  in  wait  and 
watched,  and  the  moment  that  discussion  had  produced  a 
majority  for  us  and  Mr.  Lincoln  was  elected,  they  re 
belled. — Whatever  you  may  say  about  Southern  men,  it 
must  be  said  that  they  are  as  sagacious  as  children  of 
darkness.  (Cheers.)  And  we  said — so  long  as  our  courts 
are~corrupted  and  construe  the  Constitution  adverse  to 
liberty,  we  cannot  help  ourselves.  Wherever  they  do 
wrong  to  us,  we  will  bear  the  wrong  ;  but  when  they  com 
mand  us  to  do  wrong  to  others,  we  will  not ;  we  will  take 


304 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


a  remedy ;  it  is  only  a  question  of  time  when  we  put  this 
thing  right.  We  said,  "  Wait — there  is  liberty  in  pa 
tience  ;  "  they  said,  "  There  is  safety  only  in  rebellion  ;  " 
so  they  rebelled. — [In  reply  to  another  inquiry  addressed 
to  Mr.  Beecher  as  to  the  Dred  Scott  decision.] — He  said, 
the  friends  of  the  judge  have  thought  it  convenient  to 
deny  that  he  ever  used  the  words  imputed  to  him,  that 
the  black  man  has  no  rights  which  whites  are  bound  to 
respect ;  but  whether  he  did  or  not,  it  is  universally 
conceded  by  our  lawyers  that  it  was  not  the  point  before 
the  court,  but  an  extra-judicial  opinion.  He  was  a  Mary 
land  slave-holding  judge :  the  very  instrument  by  which 
the  South  meant  to  transmute  our  institutions.  But  what 
he  said  was  his  own  opinion,  not  a  legal  decision. — 
[Another  questioner  asked  if  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law  of 
1850  was  still  part  of  the  Constitution.] — It  never  was 
part  of  the  Constitution.  In  England  your  Constitution 
is  what  your  Parliament  determines  to  be  law ;  in 
America  our  Constitution  is  what  was  originally  written. 
There  is  a  marked  distinction  between  law  founded 
on  written  principles,  and  those  written  principles  that 
we  call  the  Constitution ;  so  that  if  your  Parliament 
had  passed  a  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  it  would  have  be 
come  part  and  parcel  of  the  British  Constitution* 
but  with  us  the  State  Constitution  and  the  National 
Constitution  stand  unchanged  by  legislation.  If  the 
Constitution  is  contravened  by  laws  based  on  other 
than  the  principles  it  enunciates,  the  courts  set  them 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^O$ 

aside.  The  Fugitive  Slave  Law  is  simply  a  law,  not  a 
part  of  the  Constitution,  which  we  hold  to  be  an  outrage 
yet  inoperative,  as  having  no  power  beyond  the  year  in 
which  it  was  passed.  It  is  just  as  dead  now,  and  has 
been  the  last  eight  or  nine  years,  as  the  snake's  skin  that 
was  sloughed  ten  years  ago.  It  is  said  we  ought  to  have 
abolished  it.  When  Congress  came  together  they  passed 
so  many  reformatory  laws  that  it  was  thought  seriously 
they  should  abolish  this  ;  but  they  said — we  are  charged 
with  coming  together  for  revolutionary  purposes,  and  to 
destroy  the  local  municipal  power  of  the  States,  and  we 
must  not  do  anything  in  our  national  legislation  that  shall 
countenance  the  doctrine  that  we  are  revolutionizing 
State  sovereignty.  [A  gentleman  asked  how  the  great 
religious  associations  in  America  regarded  the  anti- 
slavery  question  ?]  There  are  two  parties — one  is  very 
small  and  able,  and  is  called  Abolitionist ;  the  other  com 
prises  all  the  rest  of  the  North,  and  is  called  Anti-slavery. 
The  distinction  is  not  one  of  doctrine,  but  of  method. 
Mr.  Garrison  and  Mr.  Phillips  said  the  North  must  save 
itself  by  disunion  ;  the  great  body  of  those  who  hated 
slavery  said,  we  cannot  consent  to  that.  I  was  one 
among  the  latter,  from  first  to  last,  and  that  paragraph  in 
the  newspapers  which  says  I  once  said  "  there  could  be 
no  getting  rid  of  slavery  under  the  Constitution  "  is  a 
total  and  absolute  falsehood.  I  would  not  burn  a  barn 
in  order  to  get  rid  of  the  rats.  (Great  laughter.)  We 
have  always  said,  the  thing  is  bad  enough,  but  not  so  bad 

20 


306 


HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER'S  SPEECHES 


but  we  can  cure  it  by  moral  means.  I  have  avowed 
over  and  over  again  to  Southern  slave-holders  : — "  You 
shall  not  go  off.  We  will  hold  you  in  the  bosom  of  lib 
erty  until  your  slavery  is  dead."  (Cheers.)  This  is  the 
point  which  you  English  are  liable  to  misunderstand. 
A  great  many  good  men  seem  to  you  to  have  paltered 
and  connived,  but  you  should  recollect  it  belongs  to  the 
nature  of  free  discussion  and  moral  suasion  to  take  time 
and  patience.  You  cannot  convert  a  whole  nation  as  you 
may  one  man,  by  sitting  down  and  talking  to  him.  Prej 
udices  melt  slowly,  but  we  have  always  had  such  faith  in 
the  ultimate  victory  of  Liberty  over  Slavery  that  we  have 
said,  "  With  God  on  our  side  we  can  fight  and  shall  win." 
(Cheers.)  Those  men  who  were  opposed  to  any  decisive 
and  summary  remedy  as  too  dangerous,  were  called  Anti- 
slavery  men ;  those  who  were  in  favor  of  immediate  dis 
ruption,  as  the  summary  and  necessary  remedy,  were 
called  Abolitionists,  that  was  the  distinction.  But  now 
there  is  no  distinction  at  all.  Mr.  Garrison  and  Mr. 
Phillips  are  both  of  them  my  personal  friends.  I  would 
not  for  all  the  world,  say  a  word  in  England  that  should 
carry  back  pain  to  their  hearts  :  and  although  I  have  dif 
fered  from  them  all  my  life  long,  I  have  never  failed  to 
see  that  men  more  heroic  in  asserting  a  great  principle, 
never  existed  in  the  world.  Mr.  Garrison  has  said  at  a 
public  meeting,  that  when  he  declared  that  the  Con 
stitution  involved  slavery,  he  never  expected  to  see  the 
Emancipation-proclamation  of  the  President  of  the  United 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  307 

States.  (Cheers.)  I  can  tell  you  there  is  no  more  wel 
come  speaker  in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  than  that 
man  of  genuine  senatorial  nature,  of  polished  scholarship, 
of  exquisite  gentlemanly  manners,  of  most  truly  Christian 
feelings  and  sentiments,  even  if  sometimes  over  excited, 
— Mr.  Wendell  Phillips.  But  we  are  all  one  to-day. 
There  are  now  but  two  parties  in  the  North.  An  over 
whelming  majority  say :  "  Since  they  have  taken  the 
sword,  let  slavery  perish  by  the  sword."  (Cheers.) 
True  !  there  is  a  small  party  that  lives  in  crevices  and 
cracks, — a  small  malignant  party  called  "  Peace  Demo 
crats,"  with  that  thrice-retton  Catiline  Wood  at  the  head 
of  it,  whom  the  Times  newspaper  is  accustomed  to  hold 
up  as  the  exponent  of  American  peace  doctrine.  Him  I 
have  heard  praised  by  the  lips  of  Christian  men,  who,  if 
they  could  know  his  crimes,  vices,  and  Satanic  wicked 
ness,  would  blow  him  from  their  parlors,  as  you  do 
Sepoys  from  the  mouths  of  your  cannon.  (Great  cheer 
ing.)  [Mr.  Robertson  asked  Mr.  Beecher's  attention  to 
two  clauses  in  the  Constitution,  frequently  quoted  to 
demonstrate  that  it  was  pro-slavery, — the  clause  where 
Congress  legalized  the  slave  trade  until  1808,  and  the 
clause  requiring  the  executive  to  lend  assistance  to  any 
State  Government  in  case  of  domestic  insurrection.  A 
third  argument  was  the  New  England  States  repealing 
the  Personal  Liberty  Bill,  and  recognizing  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Law.] — If  you  ask  me  whether  I  think  what  was  then 
done  was  ineffably  wicked,  I  say  yes,  but  that  it  has  no 


308 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER* S  SPEECHES 


force  now,  everybody  admits.  When  this  Constitution 
was  made,  the  question  was,  how  much  each  separate 
State  would  give  up,  in  order  to  endue  the  central  Fed 
eral  Government  with  authority — how  much  the  Federal 
Government  should  receive  of  sovereignty  from  the  States 
that  had  thus  far  held  the  whole  sovereignty.  They  pro 
posed  to  give  the  Government  in  Congress  the  power  to 
abolish  the  slave  trade,  but  they  would  not  let  them  have 
that  power  till  1808.  It  was  then  not  a  question  of  the 
Constitution  at  all,  but  of  the  convention  of  these  sov 
ereign  States,  and  they  refused  to  put  into  the  hands  of  the 
Federal  Government  until  such  a  date  the  power  which 
after  that  date  the  Government  was  to  have.  In  all  these 
stages,  it  was  the  opinion  of  every  man  who  founded  the 
Constitution,  that  slavery  was  dying,  and  they  did  not 
feel  as  you  and  I  would  have  felt,  but  said  :  "  Ease  it  off 
in  every  way."  Slavery  was  like  some  brigand  brought 
into  an  Alpine  convent,  where  he  was  given  a  room  and 
a  place  to  prepare  to  die  in  decently.  On  the  contrary, 
the  old  brigand  did  not  die,  but  called  in  his  confederates, 
and  domineered  over  the  very  hospital  where  he  was 
being  nursed  for  Christian  burial.  As  to  the  prevention 
of  rebellion  in  any  State,  the  National  Government  is  of 
course  bound  to  exert  its  whole  power  to  save  any  State 
from  the  intestine  mischiefs  of  insurrection.  If  this  cov 
ers  slavery  as  much  as  liberty,  yet  because  it  is  a  principle 
born  of  liberty,  slavery  gets  the  benefit  of  it.  Every 
nation  must  undertake  this  duty  ;  the  hand  to  which  you 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  309 

give  the  national  sword,  must  defend  every  part  of  the 
nation  from  internal  disorder.  The  repealing  of  the 
Liberty  Bill  only  took  place  in  one  or  two  States.  I  wish 
to  say  that  I  feel  convinced,  when  Dr.  Massie  issues  his 
report  of  his  visit,  he  will  be  able  to  say  he  found  the 
educated,  intelligent,  and  religious-minded  people  of  the 
North,  wherever  he  went,  settled  down  to  the  conclusion 
as  final  and  irremovable,  that  this  war  must  be  supported 
till  rebellion  shall  be  crushed,  and  that  rebellion  cannot 
be  crushed  till  slavery  has  been  destroyed.  I  do  not 
mean  merely  what  you  mean  here  by  the  "  intelligent 
classes."  The  phrase  with  us  includes  farmers,  mechan 
ics,  the  very  bulk  of  our  people.  For  it  is  the  legitimate 
effect  of  democratic  instruction,  that  no  line  can  be  drawn 
between  the  college-educated  man  at  the  top,  and  the 
common-school  educated  man  at  the  bottom.  A  thor 
oughly  educated  common  people,  with  collegiate  men  to 
be  their  leaders  and  mouth-pieces,  in  sympathy  with  them 
— all  moving  together — is  better  than  any  society  where 
the  bottom  is  ignorant,  and  the  top  is  educated.  (Cheers.) 
With  some  further  remarks  Mr.  Beecher  concluded,  hav 
ing  spoken  nearly  two  hours. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  MASSIE  said  that  from  what  he  himself 
had  heard  while  in  America,  he  was  convinced  the  people 
in  that  country  would  place  the  greatest  confidence  and 
faith  in  the  honesty  of  Mr.  Beecher's  reports.  He  could 
fully  confirm  that  gentleman's  reference  to  the  opinion  of 
the  intelligent  classes  of  America,  who  were  resolved  to 


3io 


HENRY  WARD  B  EEC  HER' S  SPEECHES 


maintain  the  Government  in  its  war  against  rebellion, 
and  that  the  rebellion,  with  its  twin  sister  slavery,  should 
be  buried  in  one  tomb.  (Loud  applause.) 

Mr.  J.  C.  Dyer  having  taken  the  chair, — 

Mr.  ESTCOURT  moved,  "  That  the  thanks  of  the 
meeting  be  accorded  to  the  Mayor  of  Rochdale  for  pre 
siding  in  so  able  and  courteous  a  manner ;  "  and  ex 
pressed  a  hope  that  the  Queen  of  England  would  ever  be 
found  by  the  side  of  the  President  of  a  free  and  intelli 
gent  Republic,  and  never  have  her  pure  and  womanly 
feelings  outraged  by  the  residence  at  her  court  of  the 
representative  of  any  empire  whose  "  corner-stone  "  was 
that  of  human  bondage. 

The  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Greening,  and  passed 
unanimously. 

With  a  kind  and  complimentary  message  to  Mrs. 
Beecher  Stowe,  the  talented  sister  of  the  honored  guest, 
three  cheers  for  the  Queen,  President  Lincoln,  and  Mr. 
Beecher,  the  morning's  proceedings  terminated. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  31 1 


LIVERPOOL    FAREWELL    MEETING, 
OCTOBER  30,   1863. 

A  PUBLIC  breakfast  was  tendered  to  Mr.  Beecher  by 
the  Liverpool  Emancipation  Society  at  St.  James  Hall  on 
the  morning  of  October  30. 

The  Chair  was  taken  by  Mr.  Charles  Wilson,  president 
of  the  society,  and  about  two  hundred  ladies  and  gentle 
men  sat  down  to  the  repast, — which  being  fully  discussed, 
prayer  was  offered  by  Rev.  Dr.  Graham,  and  the.  chair 
man  said :  It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  preside,  as  I 
have  no  doubt  it  also  gives  you  great  pleasure  to  be  pres 
ent  on  this,  which  may  be  the  last  occasion  on  which  Mr. 
Beecher  will  ever  address  an  English  audience  ;  and  I 
feel  that  I  may  thank  him  in  your  name,  in  my  own,  and 
in  the  name  of  the  friends  of  Emancipation  and  of  Union 
generally,  for  the  ability,  the  power,  the  kindly  good-will 
with  which  he  has  advocated  the  cause  of  liberty  during  his 
stay  in  England.  He  has  stated  publicly  that  his  desire 
is  to  draw  closer  the  bonds  of  amity  and  good  fellowship 
between  his  country  and  ours,  and  if  I  have  one  wish 
above  another,  it  is  to  do  what  little  I  can  to  promote  kind 
and  generous  feeling  "between  the  two  great  nations 
which  speak  the  English  language,  and  which  are  alike 


3 1 2          HENR  Y  WA  RD  BEE  CHER 'S  SPEE  CHES 

entitled  to  the  English  name."  I  have  lived  in  both 
countries,  and  I  can  never  forget  the  kindness  and  the 
hospitality  which  I  and  my  family  experienced  when  in 
America ;  and  I  bear  this  testimon)^,  that  there  is  more 
kindly  feeling  in  the  Americans  towards  England  and  the 
English  than  there  is  here  towards  America  and  the 
Americans.  It  is  not  unnatural  that  it  should  be  so.  They 
have  ties  and  affections  towards  the  land  of  their  fore 
fathers  which  -we  cannot  have  towards  any  new  country. 
This  island  contains  the  ashes  of  their  ancestors.  She  is 
the  place  from  whence  they  sprung.  To  them  she  is  ever 
their  mother  country — their  dear  Old  England.  They 
claim  her  as  well  as  we.  Every  American  who  comes  to 
England  makes,  as  it  were,  a  pilgrimage  to  the  old  home 
of  his  family.  I  remember  a  connection  of  my  own  who 
visited  this  country  some  years  ago.  He  was  so  blind  he 
could  not  see  across  the  street ;  but  he  related  with  the 
rapture  of  a  school-boy  a  visit  he  had  paid  to  some  remote 
part  of  Yorkshire  where  his  family  once  lived  ;  how  he 
had  met  with  an  old  lady  who  had  taken  him  to  the 
leaded  roof  of  her  house  to  show  him  the  country  round ; 
the  joy,  the  delight  with  which  he  stood  there,  looking  in 
every  direction,  and  in  imagination  seeing  the  same  fields, 
breathing  the  same  Yorkshire  air — in  fact,  living  again 
the  life  so  familiar  to  generations  of  his  family.  He  is 
now  a  chaplain  in  the  Federal  army  ;  but  wherever  he 
may  go,  there  is  fastened  in  that  spot  a  cord,  invisible, 
reaching  to  his  heart,  which  neither  time  nor  space  shall 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  3  r  3 

sever.  Some  months  ago  I  had  a  letter  from  a  loved  rel 
ative  of  mine,  a  lady  residing  in  Philadelphia,  whose  hus 
band  lies  buried  in  the  town  of  Warwick,  in  the  very 
centre  of  England.  Think  you  there  are  no  heartstrings 
there  !  She  mourns  in  plaintive  accents  the  more  than 
want  of  sympathy  of  dear  Old  England,  and  thinks  it 
strange  that  in  their  hour  of  trial  a  mother  should  so  for 
get  her  child.  But  she  concludes  with  this  line,  uttered 
from  the  very  depths  of  her  heart.  "  England,  with  all 
thy  faults,  I  love  thee  still."  Not  long  ago  I  met  with 
Mr.  Whiting,  the  eminent  lawyer,  who  has  lately  been 
over  from  the  American  Government.  He  also  spoke 
wkh  pride  of  his  English  ancestry,  and  related  with  the 
freshness  of  yesterday  a  former  visit  to  the  home  of  his 
family  in  Lincolnshire — how  he  found  the  old  escutcheon 
hanging  on  the  wall — how  he  had  examined  the  family 
registers,  in  the  old  Church,  and  the  tombstone  beneath 
which  his  people  lay  in  the  quiet  graveyard.  No  spot 
on  earth  seemed  fraught  to  him  with  such  dear  recollec 
tions.  These  are  the  heartstrings  which  bind  Ameri 
cans  to  England.  As  Earl  Russell  said  the  other  day, 
they  have  our  language,  our  literature,  our  laws  ;  our 
early  history  is  also  theirs.  These  appeal  to  the  under 
standing  and  the  intellect ;  but  those  quiet  spots,  the 
homes  and  the  graves  of  their  kindred,  bind  their  very 
hearts  to  England.  O,  let  us  cherish,  and  seek  to  return 
the  love  that  ever  flows  towards  us  with  the  Atlantic 
wave.  Now,  let  me  congratulate  you,  Mr.  Beecher,  on 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


the  success  which  has  attended  your  recent  afforts.  In 
the  capital  of  Scotland  you  had  the  opportunity  of  ad 
dressing  perhaps  the  most  learned,  the  most  scientific, 
the  most  critical,  and,  at  that  particular  juncture,  the 
most  philanthropic  assembly  which  could  be  got  together 
in  this  kingdom.  I  understand  that  there  was  not  one 
dissentient  voice.  In  the  capital  of  England  no  room 
could  be  found  large  enough  to  contain  one-half  of  those 
who  flocked  to  hear  and  support  you.  You  have  had 
large  and  influential  meetings  in  other  great  towns  and 
cities ;  and,  sir,  you  have  fought  with  beasts  at  Ephesus — 
but,  even  here,  the  closing  scenes  must  have  convinced 
you  how  impotent  were  the  bellowings  and  howlings,  the 
occasional  bleatings  and  cacklings  of  the  Southern  hire 
lings  to  stifle  the  voice  of  Liverpool  for  freedom.  (Ap 
plause.)  You  will  relate  these  things  when  you  go  home. 
You  may  also  tell  them  of  the  great  meetings  of  the  Con 
federate  cause — how  they  are  held  in  caves  and  holes  of 
the  earth,  and  the  first  thing  publicly  known  of  them  is 
from  the  newspaper  report  next  morning,  when  you  learn 
that  they  have  had  the  same  thing  over  again — a  few 
dozen  people  to  partake  of  some  cock-a-doodle-doo 
for  the  chief  dish,  and  the  correspondent  "  S."  for  gar 
nish.  (Laughter  and  cheers.)  You  may  also  tell  your 
people  that  it  is  not  from  any  want  of  employing  the 
most  subtle  and  devoted  agents,  and  conducting  their 
cause  with  the  most  consummate  skill,  that  the  whole 
British  nation  has  not  bgen  prostituted  to  the  Southern 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  3  !  5 

cause.  Mr.  James  Spence  was*their  agent  here.  He  is 
an  elegant  writer,  a  fascinating  speaker,  a  man  so  skilled 
in  rhetoric  and  sophistry  that  he  can  hide  the  protruding 
hoof,  and  represent  the  devil  of  the  South  as  an  angel  of 
light.  His  courage  is  equal  to  his  accomplishments,  for  I 
have  heard  him  in  effect,  say,  before  an  audience  of  Eng 
lishmen  that  if  any  one  wanted  to  know  who  had  the 
"courage"  to  defend  slavery  from  the  Bible,  he  was  the 
man.  I  never  heard  a  man  so  hissed  in  the  whole  course 
of  my  life.  They  have  had  Mr.  Laird  for  their  ship 
builder—they  might  have  sought  England  through  and 
not  found  such  another;  not  only  has  he  built  them  ships 
which  cannot  be  surpassed,  but  he  has  sacrificed  for  them 
his  Parliamentary  reputation,  making  unverified  state 
ments  which  have  been  repudiated  with  scorn.  If  Mr. 
Laird  had  any  hankerings  after  a  Northern  contract,  he 
certainly  did  not  seek  the  front  door.  The  next  time  he 
makes  a  pretended  statement  of  facts  in  Parliament  he 
will  be  reminded  of  these  anonymous  letters,  and  will  not 
find  it  so  easy  to  ride  off  on  a  piece  of  empty  clap-trap 
about  Mr.  Bright  setting  class  against  class.  These 
shores  do  not  contain  a  nobler  or  purer  patriot  than  John 
Bright.  Mr.  Laird  may  say  that  he  would  rather  be 
known  as  the  builder  of  the  Alabama  than  as  he  ;  but  I 
venture  to  predict  that  the  name  of  John  Bright  will  be 
honored,  and  cherished  (cheers)  and  loved  by  the  Eng 
lish  nation  when  the  name  of  the  builder  of  the  Alabama, 
if  remembered  at  all,  will  be  as  that  of  a  man  who,  to  fill 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 

his  own  pockets  with  golcl,  not  only  violated  the  procla 
mation  of  his  Sovereign,  but  did  his  utmost  to  bring  two 
kindred  nations  into  collision,  to  cover  sea  and  land  with 
fire  and  blood,  and  to  involve  the  whole  British  race  in 
all  the  horrors  and  calamities  of  war. 

The  Chairman  concluded  by  briefly  congratulating  Mr. 
Beecher  on  the  success  which  had  attended  his  labors  in 
this  country. 

Mr.  C.  E.  RAWLINS,  jun.,  said  :  Mr.  Chairman,  and 
ladies  and  gentlemen, — I  shall  content  myself  on  this  oc 
casion,  by  simply  reading  the  address  presented  to  the 
Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  and  ask  for  your  approval  of 
it.  He  then  read  the  following  address  : — 

To  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  of  New  York,  U.  S.  : 

After  a  brief  sojourn  in  Europe — a  short  respite  from 
ceaseless  labors  of  philanthropy — you  are  retiring  to  your 
country  to  resume  those  labors  with  renewed  health  and 
strength,  and  we  trust  a  yet  firmer  faith  in  their  ultimate 
success. 

Standing,  as  it  were,  on  the  very  shores  of  the  "  old  coun 
try,"  and  in  a  town  which  is  the  last — and,  perhaps, 
through  its  commerce,  the  strongest — link  in  that  chain 
which  individually  unites  the  interests  of  England  and 
the  United  States,  let  us  regard  you  as  the  representative 
of  your  countrymen,  and  take  counsel  together  ere  we  bid 
you  farewell. 

There  is  no  feeling  more  common  on  both  sides  of  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  ^  l  j 

Atlantic  than  pride  in  our  common  descent.  Hardly  a 
century  has  elapsed  since  you  had  no  separate  history 
from  our  own.  Until  then  we  were  fellow-countrymen — 
united  under  the  same  crown,  and  claiming  protection 
from  the  same  Constitution.  The  same  page  recorded  for 
us  both  all  the  glorious  associations  of  the  past — the 
same  battles  for  national  independence,  and  the  same 
national  struggles  for  civil  and  religious  liberty.  To 
this  day  we  are  sharing  the  inheritance  of  political  free 
dom  purchased  by  the  blood  of  our  ancestors.  Better 
than  all,  we  worship  at  the  same  altar  and  reverence 
the  same  heroes  of  art,  literature,  and  science. 

With  such  recollections  crowding  upon  us,  let  us  this 
day  pledge  each  other,  not  only  by  the  memories  of  the 
past,  but  our  still  more  glorious  hopes  of  the  future,  that, 
so  far  as  in  us  lies,  there  shall  be  perpetual  peace  be 
tween  England  and  the  United  States. 

Now,  there  are  common  principles  which  mark  the 
genius — nay,  which  must  be  essential  to  the  life  and  civ 
ilization  of  both  nations  alike,  and  which  are  not  ma 
terially  affected  by  our  differing  .forms  of  Government. 
The  latter  are,  in  fact,  but  mere  accidents  of  our  national 
existence.  On  the  one  side  we  have  an  hereditary  mon 
archy  and  an  hereditary  House  of  Lords,  around  which 
entwines  a  loyalty  to  the  crown  of  centuries.  On  the  other 
hand,  in  a  country  where  no  feudal  aristocracy  had  ever 
existed  and  no  King  ever  reigned,  you  were  obliged  to 
make  both  your  President  and  higher  chamber  elective. 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


All  our  other  political  and  municipal  institutions  are  the 
same. 

What,  then,  so  closely  assimilates  the  two  nations  in 
the  hopes  and  fears,  the  present  condition  and  future 
prospects  of  their  civilization  ?  What  but  the  love  of 
.freedom — freedom  personal  and  national— which  has  al 
ways  distinguished  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  above  all 
others?  Subject  to  this  higher  law,  both  Englishmen 
and  Americans  hold  all  their  institutions. 

We  do  not  this  morning  trace  the  origin  and  progress 
of  the  institution  which  has  been  so  sad  an  exception  to 
the  history  of  both  nations.  England  some  years  ago  wiped 
out  the  foul  blot  from  her  own  constitution,  and  it  is  now 
her  proud  boast  that  the  foot  of  a  slave  can  never  press 
her  soil. 

The  peculiarities  which  distinguish  a  Federal  Union  of 
States  previously  independent  have  presented  the  same 
course  with  you.  Slavery  was  found  to  be  a  State,  not  a 
national  institution.  All  action  thereon  by  the  Federal 
power  was  excluded.  But  when  the  slave-holding  States 
claimed  to  extend  this  institution  not  only  to  the  territo 
ries  but  throughout  the  Union,  the  free  spirit  of  the  North 
was  aroused,  and  in  the  Senate,  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives,  in  the  courts  of  justice,  in  the  still  higher 
courts  of  public  opinion,  but  everywhere  and  on  all  oc 
casions  in  a  constitutional  manner,  they  resisted  the 
claim.  They  fought  the  battle  of  freedom  against  slavery 
in  Missouri,  in  Texas,  and  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  3  \  g 

United  States,  and  at  length  they  succeeded  in  placing 
in  the  Presidential  chair  a  man  who  was  equally  pledged 
to  the  constitutional  obligation  not  to  interfere  with 
slavery  within  the  States  themselves,  and  to  his  personal 
obligation  to  prevent  its  further  extension. 

We  clearly  recognize  the  fact  that  the  Secession  of  the 
Southern  slave-holding  States  was  declared  by  themselves 
to  be  because  they  had  lost  this  power  of  extension  ;  that 
it  was  to  maintain  this  unconstitutional  Secession  that 
the  national  flag  was  violated  at  Fort  Sumter ;  that  the 
war  which  has  resulted  has  been  carried  on  by  the  Federal 
Government  for  the  suppression  of  a  rebellion  and  the 
maintenance  of  the  national  interests.  But  while  deeply 
regretting  the  miseries  thus  occasioned,  we  rejoice  with 
you  that  treason  placed  within  the  power  of  that  Govern 
ment  what  peace  and  order  had  denied  to  it ;  and  it  is 
with  reverential  acknowledgement  of  that  great  Provi 
dence  which  still  educes  good  from  evil  that  we  sympa 
thize  with  you  in  those  acts  of  the  Legislature  upon 
which  is  founded  the  glorious  proclamation  of  freedom  to 
slaves  of  rebellious  States.  We  trust  you  may  not  fail  in 
the  self-sacrifice  which  may  yet  be  needful  ere  that  proc 
lamation  is  realized. 

There  is  yet  one  other  point  on  which  we  could  speak 
with  a  candor  which  no  one  can  appreciate  better  than 
yourself. 

If  the  friendly  relations  of  the  two  countries  are  to  be 
maintained  unbroken  in  the  future,  it  must  be  on  the  basis 


320 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S   SPEECHES 


of  mutual  interests.  A  free  interchange  of  commodities 
between  them  will  soon  annihilate  the  prejudices  which 
still  unworthily  linger  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  As  in  the  past  we  have 
noticed  that  the  gradual  relaxation  of  your  protective 
tariff  was  breaking  down  the  barriers  between  the  two 
nations,  so  we  attribute  no  small  portion  of  the  bitterness 
of  our  Southern  sympathizers  to  those  disturbances  in 
our  commerce  which  have  resulted  from  your  return  to 
vicious  principles  of  taxation.  That  this  is  a  violation  of 
the  rights  of  the  consumer,  and  opposed  to  the  established 
laws  of  political  economy,  you  have  yourself  acknowl 
edged. 

Freedom  of  commerce  with  other  nations  is  but  an  ex 
tension  of  freedom  of  production  and  interchange  within 
our  own.  To  prohibit  it  by  high  duties  for  the  sake  of 
protecting  particular  manufactures  by  high  prices  is  a 
robbery  of  the  consumer.  England  has  set  a  noble  ex 
ample  of  universal  free-trade.  She  offers  no  exclusive 
privileges ;  she  asks  no  previous  conditions.  You  have 
but  to  follow  in  her  footsteps.  You  have  not  shrunk 
from  the  mighty  task  of  organizing  the  industry  of 
4,000,000  colored  laborers  and  5,000,000  of  whites.  With 
equal  courage,  attempt  the  far  easier  task  of  reorganizing 
your  system  of  taxation  on  the  same  basis  of  freedom. 
(Hear,  hear.)  Your  immediate  and  primary  duty  is  the 
suppression  of  a  foul  rebellion  and  the  emancipation  of 
the  slave  ;  but  we  are  convinced  that  no  single  act  could 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  3  2 1 

be  more  effective  in  securing  and  maintaining  friendly  re 
lations  between  our  two  nations  than  a  thorough  revision 
of  your  fiscal  policy.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  our  sur 
plus  population  are  every  year  emigrating  to  the  United 
States.  In  future  they  will  feel  that  every  State,  from 
Maine  to  Texas,  and  every  rood  of  soil  between  the 
Atlantic  and  Pacific  Oceans,  may  be  a  home  for  the  free. 
When  the  electric  chain  shall  again,  as  once  it  did,  unite 
us,  the  first  message  that  shall  flash  with  lightning  speed 
along  its  wires  will  be  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
peace  and  freedom  to  man  on  earth,  without  distinction 
of  creed,  or  class,  or  color,  to  the  end  of  time."  (Im 
mense  cheering.) 

The  Rev.  Mr.  JONES  seconded  the  adoption  of  the  ad 
dress,  and  the  motion  was  unanimously  adopted  with  a 
display  of  enthusiastic  feeling. 

The  Rev.  H.  W.  BEECHER,  on  rising  to  respond  to 
the  addresses,  was  received  with  enthusiastic  cheers,  which 
continued  for  some  minutes.  He  said  : — Mr.  Chairman, 
ladies  and  gentlemen, — Although  this  is  a  festive  scene 
it  is  rather  with  feelings  of  sadness  and  solemnity  that  I 
stand  in  your  midst ;  for  the  hours  are  numbered  that  I 
am  to  be  with  you,  and  the  ship  is  now  waiting  that  I 
trust  will  bear  me  safely  to  my  native  land.  If  already  I 
have  to  the  full  those  sentiments  of  reverence  and  even 
romantic  attachment  to  the  memories,  to  the  names,  to  the 
truths,  and  to  the  very  legends  of  Old  England  which 
have  been  so  beautifully  alluded  to  by  the  Chairman 

21 


322          HENRY  WARD  BEE  CHER'S  SPEECHES 

on  this  occasion — if  I  had  already  that  prepara 
tion,  how  much,  working  on  that  predisposition, 
do  you  suppose  has  been  the  kindness,  the  good  cheer, 
the  helpfulness  which  I  have  received  from  more  noble 
English  hands  and  hearts  than  I  can  name  or  even  now 
remember.  I  have  to  thank  them  for  almost  everything, 
and  I  have  almost  nothing  to  regret  in  my  personal  in 
tercourse  with  the  English  people  ;  for  I  am  too  old  a 
navigator  to  think  it  a  misfortune  to  have  steered  my  bark 
in  a  floe  or  even  a  storm,  and  what  few  waves  have 
dashed  over  the  bows  and  wetted  the  deck  did  not  send 
me  below  whining  and  crying.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laugh 
ter.)  It  was  a  matter  of  course.  I  accepted  it  with 
good  nature  at  the  time.  I  look  back  on  it,  on  the  whole, 
with  pleasure  now  ;  for  storms,  when  they  are  past,  give 
us  on  their  back  the  rainbow,  and  now  even  in  those  dis 
cordant  notes  I  find  some  music.  I  had  a  thousand 
times  rather  that  England  should  be  so  sensitive  as  to 
quarrel  with  me  than  that  she  should  have  been 
so  torpid  and  dead  as  not  to  have  responded  at  a 
stroke.  I  go  back  to  my  native  land ;  but  be  sure,  sir, 
and  be  sure,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  that  have  kindly 
presented  to  me  this  address,  that  though  I  needed  no 
such  spur  I  shall  accept  the  incitement  of  it  to  labor 
there  for  a  better  understanding  and  for  an  abiding  peace 
between  these  two  great  nations.  I  do  not  know  that  my 
hardest  labor  is  accomplished  on  this  side.  I  know  not 
what  is  before  me — what  criticisms  may  be  made  upon  my 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  323 

course.  I  think  it  likely  that  many  papers  that  never 
have  been  ardent  admirers  of  mine  will  find  great  fault 
with  my  statements,  will  controvert  my  facts,  will  traverse 
my  reasonings.  I  do  not  know  but  that  men  will  say 
that  I  have  conceded  too  much ;  and  that,  melting  under 
the  influence  of  England,  I  have  not  been  as  sturdy  here 
in  my  blows  as  I  was  in  my  own  land.  (Laughter.)  One 
thing  is  very  certain  that,  while,  before  I  came  here,  I 
always  attempted  to  speak  the  words  of  truth,  even  if 
they  were  ,not  of  soberness — (laughter) — so  here  I  have 
endeavored  to  know  only  that  which  made  for  truth  first — 
love  and  peace  next.  Of  course  I  have  not  said  every 
thing  that  I  knew.  So  to  do,  would  have  been  to  jabber 
in  season  and  out  of  season,  and  fail  to  promote  the  sub- 
Jimest  ends  that  a  Christian  man  or  a  patriot  can  contem 
plate — the  welfare  of  two  great  allied  nations.  I  should 
have  been  foolish  if  I  had  left  the  things  which  made  for 
peace  and  dug  up  the  things  that  would  have  made  of 
fence.  Yet,  that  course  was  not  inconsistent  with  frank 
ness,  with  fidelity,  and  with  a  due  statement  of  that  blame 
which  we  have  felt  attached  to  the  course  of  England  in 
this  conflict.  I  shall  go  back  to  represent  to  my  own 
countrymen  on  fitting  occasions  what  I  have  discovered 
of  the  reasons  for  the  recent  antagonism  of  England  to 
America.  And  I  shall  have  to  say  primarily  that  the 
mouth  and  the  tongue  of  England  have  been  to  a  very 
great  extent  as  were  the  mouth  and  the  tongue  of  old  of 
those  poor  wretches  that  were  possessed  of  the  devil, — 


324          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

not  in  their  own  control.  (Laughter  and  applause.)  The 
institutions  of  England — for  England  is  pre-eminently  a 
nation  of  institutions — the  institutions  of  England  have 
been  very  largely  controlled  by  a  limited  class  of  men  ; 
and,  as  a  general  thing,  the  organs  of  expression  have 
gone  with  the  dominant  institutions  of  the  land.  Now, 
it  takes  time  for  a  great  unorganized,  and  to  a  certain  ex 
tent  unvoting,  public  opinion,  underneath  institutions,  to 
create  that  grand  swell  that  lifts  the  whole  ark  up  ;  and 
so  it  will  be  my  province  to  interpret  to  them  that  there 
may  have  been  abundant,  and  various,  and  wide-spread 
utterances  antagonistic  to  us,  and  yet  that  they  might  not 
have  been  the  voices  that  represented,  after  all,  the  great 
heart  of  England.  But  there  is  more  than  that.  Rising 
higher  than  party  feeling,  endeavoring  to  stand  upon  some 
ground  where  men  may  be  both  Christians  and  philos 
ophers,  and  looking  upon  the  two  nations  from  this  higher 
point  of  view,  one  may  see  that  it  must  needs  have  been 
as  it  has  been,  for  it  so  happens  that  England  herself, 
or  Great  Britain  I  should  say — I  mean  Great  Britain 
when  I  say  England  always — Great  Britain  is  her 
self  undergoing  a  process  of  gradual  internal  change. 
All  living  nations  are  undergoing  such  changes.  No  na 
tion  abides  fixed  in  policy  and  fixed  in  institutions  until 
it  abides  in  death  ;  for  death  only  is  immovable  in  this 
life,  and  life  is  a  perpetual  process  of  supply.  Assimila 
tion,  excretion,  change,  and  sensitiveness  to  the  causes  of 
change,  are  the  marks  of  life.  And  England  is  undergo- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  325 

ing  a  change,  and  must  do  so  so  long  as  she  is  vital ;  and 
when  you  shall  have  put  that  round  about  England  which 
prevents  further  change,  you  will  have  put  her  shroud 
around  her.  Now,  changes  cannot  be  brought  to  pass 
amongst  a  free,  thinking  people,  as  you  can  bring  about 
changes  in  agriculture  or  in  mechanics,  or  upon  dead 
matter  by  the  operation  of  natural  laws.  Changes  that 
are  wrought  by  the  will  of  consenting  men  imply  hesita 
tion,  doubt,  difference,  debate,  antagonisms ;  and  change 
is  the  final  stage  before  which  always  has  been  the  great 
conflict,  which  conflict  itself,  with  all  its  mischiefs,  is  also 
a  great  benefit,  since  it  is  a  quickener  and  a  life-giver; 
for  there  is  nothing  so  hateful  in  life  as  death ;  and 
among  a  people  nothing  so  terrible  as  dead  men  that 
walk  about  and  do  not  know  they  are  dead.  (Laughter 
and  cheers.)  It  therefore  comes  to  pass  that  in  the 
normal  process  of  a  change  such  as  is  taking  place  in 
England,  there  will  be  parties,  there  will  be  divided 
circles,  and  cliques,  and  all  those  aspects  and  phenomena 
which  belong  to  healthy  national  progress  and  change 
for  progress.  Now,  it  so  came  to  pass  that  America  too 
was  undergoing  a  change  more  pronounced ;  and  since, 
contrary  to  our  hope  and  expectation,  it  was  a  change 
that  went  on  under  the  form  of  revolution,  and  war  in  its 
latter  period,  it  at  first  addressed  England  only  by  her 
senses  ;  for  when  the  rebellion  broke  out  and  the  tidings 
rolled  across  the  ocean,  everybody  has  said  "  England 
was  for  you  "  at  first.  I  believe  so  ;  because  before  men 


226  HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

had  time  to  weigh  in  the  balances  the  causes  that  were  at 
work  on  our  side  ;  before  the  patrician  had  had  time  to 
study:  "What  might  be  the  influence  of  this  upon  my 
class  ?  "  and  the  churchman, — "  What  will  be  the  influ 
ence  of  these  principles  on  my  position  ? " — and  the 
various  parties  in  Great  Britain — "  What  will  be  the  in 
fluence  of  these  American  ideas,  if  they  are  in  the  ascend 
ancy,  on  my  side  and  on  my  position  ?  " — before  men 
had  time  to  analyze  and  to  ponder  ;  they  were  for  the  North 
and  against  the  South  ;  because,  although  your  anti-slavery 
feeling  is  hereditary  and  legendary,  there  was  enough  vi 
tality  in  it,  however  feeble,  to  bring  you  on  to  the  side  of 
the  North  in  the  first  instance.  Much  more  would  it 
have  done,  had  it  been  a  really  living  and  quickening 
principle.  It  is  said  that  up  to  the  time  of  the  trouble  of 
the  Trent,  England  was  with  us,  but  from  that  time  she 
went  rapidly  over  the  other  way.  Now  that  was  merely 
the  occasion,  but  not  the  cause.  I  understand  it  to  have 
been  this — that  there  were  a  great  many  men  and  classes 
of  men  in  England  that  feared  the  reactionary  influences 
of  American  ideas  upon  the  internal  conflicts  of  England 
herself ;  and  a  great  deal  of  the  offence  has  arisen,  not  so 
much  from  any  direct  antagonism  between  Englishmen 
and  Americans,  as  from  the  feeling  of  Englishmen  that 
the  way  to  defend  themselves  at  home  was  to  fight  their 
battle  in  America,  and  that  therefore  there  has  been  this 
strange,  this  anomalous  and  ordinarily  unexplained  cause 
of  the  offence  and  of  the  difficulties.  Let  us  look  a  little 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  327 

at  it.  I  will  not  omit  to  state,  in  passing,  that  there  has 
been  a  great  deal  of  ignorance  and  a  great  deal  of  mis 
conception.  But  that  was  to  be  expected.  We  are  not 
to  suppose — it  would  be  supreme  egotism  for  an  Ameri 
can  to  suppose — that  the  great  mass  of  the  English  peo 
ple  should  study  American  institutions  and  American  pol 
icy  and  American  history  as  they  do  their  own  ;  and 
when  to  that  natural  unknowingness  by  one  nation  of  the 
affairs  of  another  are  added  the  unscrupulous  and  won 
derfully  active  exertions  of  Southern  emissaries  here, 
who  found  men  ready  to  be  inoculated,  and  who  com 
passed  sea  and  land  to  make  proselytes  and  then  made 
them  tenfold  more  the  children  of  the  devil  than  them 
selves  ;  when  these  men  began  to  propagate  one-sided 
facts,  suppressing — and  suppression  has  been  as  vast  a 
lie  in  England  as  falsification — perpetually  presenting 
every  rumor,  every  telegram,  and  every  despatch  from  the 
wrong  point  of  view,  and  forgetting  to  correct  it  when  the 
rest  came,  finding,  I  say,  these  emissaries  and  these  easy 
converts,  the  South  has  propagated  an  immense  amount 
of  false  information  throughout  England,  we  are  to  take 
this  into  account.  But,  next  consider  the  antagonisms 
which  there  are  supposed  to  be  between  the  commercial 
interests  of  North  America  and  of  England.  We  are  two 
great  rivals.  Rivalry,  gentlemen,  is  simply  in  the  nature 
of  a  pair  of  scissors  or  shears  ;  you  cannot  cut  with  one 
blade,  but  if  you  are  going  to  cut  well  you  must  have  one 
rubbing  against  the  other.  (Hear,  hear,  and  laughter.) 


328 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


One  bookstore  cannot  do  as  much  business  in  a  town  as 
two,  because  the  rivalry  creates  demand.  Everywhere, 
the  great  want  of  men  is  people  to  buy,  and  the  end  of 
all  commerce  should  be  to  raise  up  people  enough  to  take 
the  supplies  of  commerce.  Now,  where  in  any  street  you 
collect  one,  five,  ten,  twenty  booksellers  or  dry  goods 
dealers,  you  attract  customers  to  that  point,  and  so  far 
from  being  adverse  to  each  other's  welfare,  men  cluster 
ing  together  in  rivalry,  in  the  long  run  and  comprehen 
sively  considered  they  are  beneficial  to  each  other.  There 
are  many  men  who  always  reason  from  their  lower  facul 
ties,  and  refuse  to  see  any  questions  except  selfishly,  en 
viously,  jealously.  It  is  so  on  both  sides  the  sea.  Such 
men  will  attempt  always  to  foster  rivalry  and  make  it  ran 
corous.  They  need  to  be  rebuked  by  the  honorable  men 
of  the  commercial  world  on  both  sides  of  the  ocean, 
and  put  in  their  right  place  —  under  foot.  (Applause.) 
Against  all  mean  jealousies,  I  say,  there  is  to  be  a  com 
merce  yet  on  this  globe,  compared  with  which  all  we  have 
ever  had  will  be  but  as  the  size  of  the  hand  compared 
with  the  cloud  that  belts  the  hemisphere.  There  is  to  be 
a  resurrection  of  nations  ;  there  is  to  be  a  civilization 
that  shall  bring  up  even  that  vast  populous  continent  of 
Asia  into  new  forms  of  life,  with  new  demands.  There  is 
to  be  a  time  when  liberty  shall  bless  the  nations  of  the 
earth  and  expand  their  minds  in  their  own  homes  ;  when 
men  shall  want  more  and  shall  buy  more.  There  is  to  be 
a  supply  required,  that  may  tax  ev.ery  loom  and  every 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  329 

spindle  and  every  ship  that  England  has  or  shall  have 
when  they  are  multiplied  fourfold.  Instead  therefore  of 
wasting  energy,  peace,  and  manhood  in  miserable  petty 
jealousies,  trans-Atlantic  or  cis-Atlantic,  the  business  of 
England,  as  of  America,  should  be,  to  strike  those  key 
notes  of  liberty,  to  sound  those  deep  chords  of  human 
rights,  that  shall  raise  the  nations  of  the  earth  and  make 
them  better  customers  because  they  are  broader  men. 
(Great  cheering.)  It  has  also  been  supposed  that  Ameri 
can  ideas  reacting  will  have  a  powerful  tendency  to  dis 
satisfy  men  with  their  form  of  government  in  Great  Brit 
ain.  This  is  the  sincere  conviction  of  many.  Ladies 
and  gentlemen,  England  is  not  perfect.  England  has  not 
yet  the  best  political  instruments  any  more  than  we  have  ; 
but  of  one  thing  you  may  be  certain,  that  in  a  nation 
which  is  so  conservative,  which  does  not  trust  itself  to  the 
natural  conservatism  of  self-governing  men,  but  even  for 
tifies  itself  with  conservatism  by  the  most  potent  insti 
tutions,  and  gives  those  institutions  mainly  into  the  hands 
of  a  conservative  class,  ordained  to  hold  back  the  impetu 
osity  of  the  people — do  you  think  that  any  change  can 
ever  take  place  in  England  until  it  has  gone  through  such 
a  controversy,  such  a  living  fight,  as  that  it  shall  have 
proved  itself  worthy  to  be  received  ?  And  will  any  man 
tell  me,  that  when  a  principle  or  a  truth  has  been  proved 
worthy,  England  will  refuse  to  receive  it,  to  give  it  house 
room,  and  to  make  any  changes  that  may  be  required  for 
it  ?  If  voting  viva  voce  is  best,  fifty  years  hence  you  will 


330 


HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER  >S  SPEECHES 


be  found  voting  in  that  manner.  If  voting  by  the  ballot 
is  best,  fifty  years  hence  you  will  have  here  what  we  have 
in  America,  the  silent  fall  of  those  flakes  of  paper  which 
come  as  snow  comes,  soundless,  but  which  gather,  as 
snow  gathers  on  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  to  roll  with 
the  thunder  of  the  avalanche,  and  crush  all  beneath  it. 
(Loud  applause.)  But  it  is  supposed  that  it  may  extend 
still  further.  It  is  supposed  that  the  spectacle  of  a  great 
nation  that  governs  itself  so  cheaply  will  react  in  favor  of 
those  men  in  Europe,  who  demand  that  monarchical  gov 
ernment  shall  be  conducted  cheaply.  For  men  say,  look 
at  the  civil  list — look  at  the  millions  of  pounds  required 
to  conduct  our  Government,  and  see  30,000,000  of  men 
governed  on  that  vast  Continent  at  not  one-tenth  part  of 
the  expense.  Well,  I  must  say,  that  if  this  report  comes 
across  the  sea,  and  is  true,  and  these  facts  do  excite  such 
thoughts,  I  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  helped.  I  do  not 
say  that  our  American  example  will  react  to  the  essential 
re-construction  of  any  principles  in  your  edifice.  I  have 
not  in  my  own  mind  the  belief  that  it  will  do  more  than 
re-adapt  your  economy  to  a  greater  facility  and  to  more 
beneficence  in  its  application ;  but  that  it  will  ever  take 
the  crown  from  the  king's  head,  or  change  the  organiza 
tion  of  your  aristocracy,  I  have  not  a  thought.  It  is  no 
matter  what  my  own  private  opinion  on  the  subject  is. 
Did  I  live  or  had  I  been  born  and  bred  in  England,  I 
have  no  question  that  I  should  feel  just  as  you  feel,  for 
this  I  will  say  that  in  no  other  land  that  I  know  of  under 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  33  ! 

the  sun  are  a  monarchy  and  an  aristocracy  holding  power 
under  it,  standing  around  as  the  bulwark  of  the  throne — 
in  not  another  land  are  there  so  many  popular  benefits 
accruing  under  the  Government ;  and  if  you  must  have 
an  aristocracy,  where  in  any  other  land  can  you  point  to 
so  many  men,  noble  politically,  but  more  noble  by  disposi 
tion,  by  culture,  by  manliness,  and  true  Christian  piety  ? 
(Loud  and  reiterated  cheering.)  I  say  this  neither  as  the 
advocate  nor  as  the  adversary  of  this  particular  form  of 
Government,  but  I  say  it  simply  because  there  is  a  latent 
feeling  that  American  ideas  are  in  natural  antagonism 
with  aristocracy.  They  are  not.  American  ideas  are 
merely  these — that  the  end  of  government  is  the  benefit 
of  the  governed.  If  that  idea  is  inconsistent  with  your 
form  of  Government,  how  can  that  form  expect  to  stand  ? 
And  if  it  only  requires  some  slight  readjustment  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  if  that  idea  is  consistent 
with  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  why  should  you  fear  any 
change  ?  I  believe  that  monarchy  and  aristocracy,  as 
they  are  practically  developed  in  England,  are  abundantly 
consistent  with  the  great  doctrine,  that  Government  is  for 
the  benefit  of  the  governed.  There  has  also  been  a  feel 
ing  that  the  free  church  of  America,  while  it  might  per 
haps  do  in  a  rough-and-tumble  enterprise  in  the  wilder 
ness,  is  not  the  proper  form  of  church  for  Great  Britain. 
Well,  you  are  the  judges,  gentlemen,  about  that,  not 
we ;  and  if  it  is  not  the  proper  form  for  Great  Britain 
you  need  not  fear  that  Great  Britain  will  take  it. 


332 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


If   it   is,   then  it   is   only    a    question    of   time  ;   you  will 
have  to  take    it.     For  I  hold,  sturdy  as  you  are,  strong 
as  your  will    is,  persistent  as  you    may  be    for  whatever 
seems    to   you  to  be  truth,  you   will  have,   first   or   last, 
to  submit  to  God's  truth.     When  I  look  into  the  interior 
of  English   thoughts,  and   feelings,  and  society,  and  see 
how  in  the  first  stage  of   our  conflict  with  your  old  anti- 
slavery  sympathies  you  went  for  the  North ;    how  there 
came  a  second  stage,  when  you  began  to  fear,  lest  this 
American  struggle    should  react  upon  your  owji  parties. 
I  think  I  see  my  way  to  the  third  stage,  in  which  you  will 
say — "  This  American  struggle  will  not  affect  our  interior 
interests  and  economy  more  than   we  choose    to   allow ; 
and  our  duty  is  to  follow  our  own  real  original  opinions 
and  manly  sentiments.     I  know  of  but  one  or  two  things 
that  are  necessary  to  expedite  this  final  judgment  of  Eng 
land,  and  that  is,  one  or  two  conclusive  Federal  victories. 
(Applause.)     If  I   am   not   greatly   mistaken,  the  convic 
tions  and  opinions  of  England  are  like  iron  wedges  ;  but 
success  is  the  sledge-hammer  which  drives  in  the  wedge 
and  splits  the  log.     (Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)     Nowhere 
in  the  world  are  people  so  apt  to  succeed  in  what  they  put 
their  hand  to  as  in  England,  and  therefore  nowhere  in  the 
world  more  than  in  England  is  success  honored  :  and  the 
crowning  thing  for  the  North,  in  order  to  complete  that 
returning  sympathy  and  cordial  good-will  is  to  obtain  a 
thorough  victory  over  the  South.     There  is  nothing  in  the 
way  of  that  but  the  thing  itself.     (Laughter  and  cheers.) 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

Allow  me  to  say,  therefore,  just  at  this  point  and  in  that 
regard,  that,  whilst  looking  at  it  sentimentally,  the  pro 
longation  of  this  war  seems  mischievous ;  it  is  more  in 
seeming  than  reality,  for  the  North  was  itself  being  edu 
cated  by  this  war.  This  North  was  like  men  sent  to  sea 
on  a  ship  that  was  but  half  built  as  yet;  just  enough 
built  to  keep  the  water  out  of  the  hull  :  but  they  had  both 
to  sail  on  their  voyage  and  to  build  up  their  ship  as  they 
went.  We  were  precipitated  at  a  civil  crisis  in  which 
there  were  all  manner  of  complications  at  all  stages  of 
progress  in  the  right  direction  of  this  war,  and  the  process 
of  education  has  had  to  go  on  in  battle-fields,  in  the  drill 
camps,  and  at  home  amongst  the  people,  while  they  were 
discussing,  and  taxing  their  energies  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  war.  And  there  never  was  so  good  a  school-master 
as  war  has  been  in  America.  Terrible  was  the  light  of 
his  eye,  fearful  the  stroke  of  his  hand  ;  but  he  is  turning 
out  as  good  a  set  of  pupils  as  ever  came  from  any  school 
in  this  world.  Now,  every  single  month  from  this  time 
forward  that  this  struggle  is  delayed  unitizes  the  North — 
brings  the  North  on  to  th'at  ground  which  so  many  have 
struggled  to  avoid  : — "  Union  and  peace  require  the  utter 
destruction  of  slavery."  There  is  an  old  proverb, 
"  There's  luck  in  leisure."  Let  me  transmute  the  prov 
erb,  and  say,  "There  is  emancipation  in  delay."  (Loud 
cheers.)  And  every  humane  heart,  yea  ever}'  commercial 
man  that  takes  any  comprehensive  and  long-sighted  in 
stead  of  a  narrow  view  of  the  question — will  say,  "Let 


334 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER  'S  SPEECHES 


the  war  thus  linger  until  it  has  burnt  slavery  to  the  very 
root."  (Renewed  cheers.)  While  it  is,  however,  a  great 
evil  and  a  terrible  one — I  will  not  disguise  it, — for  war  is 
dreadful  to  every  Christian  heart, — yet,  blessed  be  God, 
we  are  not  called  to  an  unmixed  evil.  There  are  many 
collateral  advantages.  While  war  is  as  great,  or  even  a 
greater  evil  than  many  of  you  have  been  taught  to  think, 
it  is  wrong  to  suppose  that  it  is  evil  only,  and  that  God 
cannot,  even  by  such  servants  as  war,  work  out  a  great 
moral  result.  The  spirit  of  patriotism  diffused  throughout 
the  North  has  been  almost  like  the  resurrection  of  man 
hood.  You  never  can  understand  what  emasculation  has 
been  caused  by  the  indirect  influence  of  slavery.  I  have 
mourned  all  my  mature  life  to  see  men  growing  up 
who  were  obliged  to  suppress  all  true  conviction  and 
sentiment,  because  it  was  necessary  to  compromise 
between  the  great  antagonisms  of  North  and  South. 
There  were  the  few  pronounced  anti-slavery  men  of  the 
North,  and  the  few  pronounced  slavery  men  of  the  South, 
and  the  Union  lovers  (as  they  were  called  during  the  lat 
ter  period)  attempting  to  hold  the  two  together,  not  by  a 
mild  and  consistent  adherence  to  truth  plainly  spoken, 
but  by  suppressing  truth  and  conviction,  and  saying 
"  Everything  for  the  Union."  Now  during  this  period  I 
took  this  ground,  that  if  "  Union "  meant  nothing  but 
this — a  resignation  of  the  national  power  to  be  made  a 
tool  for  the  maintenance  of  slavery — Union  was  a  lie  and 
a  degradation.  (Great  cheering.)  All  over  New  Eng- 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  335 

land,  and  all  over  the  State  of  New  York,  and  through 
Pennsylvania,  to  the  very  banks  of  the  Ohio,  I,  in  the 
presence  of  hisses  and  execrations,  held  this  doctrine 
from  1850  to  1860 — namely,  "Union  is  good  if  it  is 
Union  for  justice  and  liberty  ;  but  if  it  is  Union  for 
slavery,  then  it  is  thrice  accursed."  (Loud  cheering.) 
For  they  were  attempting  to  lasso  anti-slavery  men  by 
this  word  "  Union,"  and  to  draw  them  over  to  pro-slavery 
sympathies  and  the  party  of  the  South,  by  saying, 
"  Slavery  may  be  wrong  and  all  that,  but  we  must  not 
give  up  the  Union,"  and  it  became  necessary  for  the 
friends  of  liberty  to  say  :  "  Union  for  the  sake  of  liberty, 
not  Union  for  the  sake  of  slavery."  Now  we  have  passed 
out  of  that  period,  and  it  is  astonishing  to  see  how  men 
have  come  to  their  tongues  in  the  North — (laughter) — 
and  how  men  of  the  highest  accomplishments  now  say 
they  do  not  believe  in  slavery.  If  Mr.  Everett  could 
have  pronounced  in  1850  the  oration  which  he  pro 
nounced  in  1860,  then  might  miracles  have  flourished 
again.  Not  until  the  sirocco  came,  not  until  that  great 
convulsion  that  threw  men  as  with  a  backward  movement 
of  the  arm  of  Omnipotence  from  the  clutches  of  the 
South  and  from  her  sorcerer's  breath — not  until  then  was 
it,  that  with  their  hundreds  and  thousands  the  men  of  the 
North  stood  on  their  feet  and  were  men  again.  More 
than  warehouses,  more  than  ships,  more  than  all  harvests 
and  every  material  form  of  wealth  is  the  treasure  of  a 
nation  in  the  manhood  of  her  men.  (Great  applause.) 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

We  could  have  afforded  to  have  had  our  stores  of  wheat 
burnt — there  is  wheat  to  plant  again.  We  could  have 
afforded  to  have  had  our  farms  burnt — our  farms  can 
spring  again  from  beneath  the  ashes.  If  we  had  sunk 
our  ships — there  is  timber  to  build  new  ones.  Had  we 
burnt  every  house — therais  stone  and  brick  left  for  skill 
again  to  construct  them.  Perish  every  material  element 
of  wealth,  but  give  me  the  citizen  intact ;  give  me  the 
man  that  fears  God  and  therefore  loves  men,  and  the 
destruction  of  the  mere  outside  fabric  is  nothing — noth 
ing  ; — (cheers) — but  give  me  apartments  of  gold,  and 
build  me  palaces  along  the  streets  as  thick  as  the  shops 
of  London ;  give  me  rich  harvests  and  ships  and  all  the 
elements  of  wealth,  but  corrupt  the  citizen,  and  I  am 
poor.  (Immense  cheering,  during  which  the  audience 
rose  and  enthusiastically  reiterated  the  applause.)  I  will 
not  insist  upon  the  other  elements.  I  will  not  dwell  upon 
the  moral  power  stored  in  the  names  of  those  young 
heroes  that  have  fallen  in  this  struggle  [Here  the 
speaker  manifested  considerable  emotion.]  I  cannot 
think  of  it,  but  my  eyes  run  over.  They  were  dear  to  me, 
many  of  them,  as  if  they  had  carried  in  their  veins  my 
own  blood.  How  many  families  do  I  know,  in  which 
once  was  the  voice  of  gladness,  in  which  now  father  and 
mother  sit  childless  !  How  many  heirs  of  wealth,  how 
many  noble  scions  of  old  families,  well  cultured,  the 
heirs  to  every  apparent  prosperity  in  time  to  come,  flung 
themselves  into  their  country's  cause,  and  died  bravely 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  337 

fighting  for  it.  And  every  such  name  has  become  a  name 
of  power,  and  whoever  hears  it  hereafter  shall  feel  a  thrill 
in  his  heart — self-devotion,  heroic  patriotism,  love  of  his 
kind,  love  of  liberty,  love  of  God.  I  cannot  stop  to 
speak  of  these  things ;  I  will  turn  myself  from  the  past 
of  England  and  of  America  to  the  future.  It  is  not  a 
cunningly-devised  trick  of  oratory,  that  has  led  me  to 
pray  God  and  his  people  that  the  future  of  England  and 
America  shall  be  an  undivided  future,  and  a  cordially 
united  one.  I  know  my  friend  Punch  thinks,  I  have 
been  serving  out  "soothing  syrup"  to  the  British  Lion. 
(Laughter.)  Very  properly  the  picture  represents  me  as 
putting  a  spoon  into  the  lion's  ear  instead  of  his  mouth  ; 
and  I  don't  wonder  that  the  great  brute  turns  away  so 
sternly  from  that  plan  of  feeding.  (Laughter.)  If  it  be 
an  offence  to  have  sought  to  enter  your  mind  by  your 
nobler  sentiments  and  nobler  faculties,  then  I  am  guilty. 
(Hear,  hear,  and  cheers.)  I  have  sought  to  appeal  to 
your  reason  and  to  your  moral  convictions.  I  have,  of 
course,  sought  to  come  in  on  that  side  in  which  you  were 
most  good-natured.  I  knew  it,  and  so  did  you,  and  I 
knew  that  you  knew  it  ;  and  I  think  that  any  man  with 
common  sense  would  have  attempted  the  same  thing.  I 
have  sacrificed  nothing,  however,  for  the  sake  of  your 
favor,  and  if  you  have  permitted  me  to  have  any  influ 
ence  with  you,  it  was  because  I  stood  apparently  a  man 
of  strong  convictions,  but  with  generous  impulses  as  well. 
It  was  because  you  believed  that  I  was  honest  in  my  be. 

22 


338 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


lief,  and  because  I  was  kind  in  my  feelings  towards  you. 
And  now  when  I  go  back  home  I  shall  be  just  as  faithful 
with  our  "  young  folks  "  as  I  have  been  with  the  "  old 
folks  "  in  England,  I  shall  tell  them  the  same  things  that 
I  have  said  to  their  ancestors  on  this  side.  I  shall  ptead 
for  union,  for  confidence.  For  the  sake  of  civilization  ; 
for  the  sake  of  those  glories  of  the  Christian  Church  on 
earth  which  are  dearer  to  me  than  all  that  I  know  ;  for 
the  sake  of  Him  whose  blood  I  bear  about,  a  perpetual 
cleansing,  a  perpetual  wine  of  strength  and  stimulation  ; 
for  the  sake  of  time  and  for  the  glories  of  eternity,  I  shall 
plead  that  mother  and  daughter — England  and  America — 
be  found  one  in  heart  and  one  in  purpose,  following  the 
bright  banner  of  salvation,  as  streaming  abroad  in  the 
light  of  the  morning,  it  goes  round  and  round  the  earth, 
carrying  the  prophecy  and  the  fulfilment  together,  that 
"  The  earth  shall  be  the  Lord's,  and  that  his  glory  shall 
fill  it  as  the  waters  fill  the  sea."  (Loud  and  prolonged 
cheering.)  And  now  my  hours  are  moments,  but  I  lin 
ger  because  it  is  pleasant.  You  have  made  yourselves  so 
kind  to  me  that  my  heart  clings  to  you.  I  leave  not 
strangers  any  longer — I  leave  friends  behind.  (Loud 
cheers.)  I  shall  probably  never  at  my  time  of  life — I  am 
now  fifty  years  of  age,  and  at  that  time. men  seldom  make 
great  changes — I  shall  probably  see  England  no  more  ; 
but  I  shall  never  cease  to  see  her.  I  shall  never  speak 
any  more  here,  but  I  shall  never  cease  to  be  heard  in 
England  as  long  as  I  live.  (Cheers.)  Three  thousand 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

miles  is  not  as  wide  now  as  your  hand.  The  air  is  one 
great  sounding  gallery.  What  you  whisper  in  your  closet 
is  heard  in  the  infinite  depths  of  heaven.  God  has  given 
to  the  moral  power  of  his  church  something  like  his  own 
power.  What  you  do  in  your  pulpits  in  England,  we  hear 
in  America  ;  and  what  we  do  in  our  pulpits,  you  hear  and 
feel  here  ;  and  so  it  shall  be  more  and  more.  Across  the 
sea,  that  is,  as  it  were,  but  a  rivulet,  we  shall  stretch  out 
hands  of  greeting  to  you,  and  speak  words  of  peace  and 
fraternal  love.  Let  us  not  fail  to  hear  "  Amen,"  and  the 
responsive  greeting,  whenever  we  call  to  you  in  fraternal 
love  for  liberty — for  religion — for  the  Church  of  God. 
Farewell ! — (The  reverend  gentlemen  resumed  his  seat 
amidst  enthusiastic  applause.) 

The  Rev.  H.   REES  rose  and  read   an  address  from 
Welsh  ministers.     The  original  is  in  Welsh,  and  is  accom 
panied  by  the  translation  appended. 
To  the  Rev.  H.  Ward  Beecher : 

REVEREND  SIR — We,  the  undersigned  ministers  of  the 
Welsh  Congregational  Churches  in  the  town  of  Liverpool 
and  Birkenhead,  desire  to  embrace  the  opportunity  on 
your  departure  from  this  country  to  express  our  high 
esteem  of  your  fame  and  character  as  a  Christian  minister 
and  an  enlightened  philanthropist. 

More  especially  would  we  express  our  profound  admi 
ration  of  your  uncompromising  self-sacrificing  labors  on 
behalf  of  the  oppressed  African  race,  and  your  efforts  to 
wipe  out  the  foul  blot  of  slavery  from  the  otherwise  fair 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

escutcheon  of  your  great  and  noble  country  :  efforts  which 
in  common  with  those  of  others  of  your  family  have  made 
the  name  of  Beecher  dear  to  the  broken  hearts  of  down 
trodden  slaves,  and  illustrious  in  the  eyes  of  all  the  true 
friends  of  justice,  freedom,  and  humanity  throughout-  the 
world. 

We  beg  to  assure  you,  and  through  you  our  countrymen 
in  America,  that  we  deeply  sympathize  with  your  Execu 
tive  in  its  endeavors  to  put  down  the  rebellion  in  the 
Southern  States,  and  to  establish  the  Federal  Union  on  a 
basis  of  equality  of  rights  between  the  white  and  black 
races. 

A  rebellion  whose  declared  object  was  the  extension 
and  perpetuation  of  negro  slavery  must,  we  think,  be  re 
garded  by  every  enlightened  and  sober  mind  as  the  gross 
est  insult,  alike  to  God  in  heaven  and  to  man  on  earth. 
The  infamous  avowal  of  a  determination  to  found  a  gov 
ernment  whose  "  corner-stone  "  was  to  be  the  irredeem 
able  subjugation  of  the  black  man — the  assumption  that 
such  a  theory  is  in  accordance  with  the  will  of  God  as 
revealed  in  nature  and  in  his  word,  we  believe  to  be  the 
climax  of  human  presumption  and  effrontery,  which  must 
ever  remain  a  black  scandal  in  the  annals  of  the  i9th 
century,  and  consign  the  memory  of  its  abettors  to  the 
just  execration  of  mankind  to  the  last  ages  of  the  world. 

We  rejoice  to  have  it  to  say  that  we  believe  there  is  not 
a  solitary  minister  of  our  denomination  in  the  Principality 
who  would  not  have  gladly  subscribed  to  these  sentiments 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  34! 

had  an  opportunity  of  doing  so  been  afforded ;  and  to  the 
best  of  our  knowledge  the  entire  body  of  Nonconformists 
in  Wales,  of  every  denomination,  entertain  similar  opin 
ions  ;  indeed,  our  whole  nation,  with  comparatively  but 
very  few  exceptions,  are  wholly  of  the  same  mind. 

The  warm  and  hearty  demonstrations  of  welcome  with 
which  you  have  been  received  in  the  great  cities  and 
towns  of  our  kingdom  will  have  sufficiently  proved  to  you 
that  after  all  the  heart  of  Old  England  is  in  its  right 
place. 

Honored  sir,  we  congratulate  you  on  the  results  of  your 
visit.  You  will  leave  our  shores  with  the  pleasing  con 
viction  that  your  labors  among  us  have  not  been  in  vain. 
Many  minds  have  been  interested  in  and  enlightened  on 
the  issues  now  pending  in  America — waverers  have  been 
confirmed — misapprehensions  have  been  corrected — per 
sonal  prejudices  against  yourself  have  been  removed — 
and  the  amount  of  moral  sympathy  with  your  Government 
has  been  greatly  augmented  through  your  instrumentality. 
The  scurrilous  attacks  upon  you  in  a  portion  of  the  daily 
and  weekly  press  are  the  highest  tribute  which  could  have 
been  paid  to  the  influence  of  your  name  and  the  power  of 
your  eloquence. 

Dear  sir,  tens  of  thousands  of  the  best  men  in  England 
will  long  cherish  fond  recollections  of  your  visit;  and 
their  best  wishes  will  accompany  you  to  your  home.  We 
doubt  not  similar  recollections  will  be  cherished  on  your 
own  part ;  and  when  you  shall  have  proclaimed  to  your 


342          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 

countrymen  what  you  have  witnessed  and  experienced 
during  your  visit  to  this  country,  it  cannot  fail  to  prove 
the  means  of  strengthening  and  cementing  peace  and  love 
between  our  two  powerful  nations.  May  the  amiable  re 
lations  between  England  and  America  be  never  inter 
rupted.  May  it  please  God  to  put  a  speedy  termination 
to  the  lamentable  strife  now  raging  in  your  beloved 
country,  and  to  overrule  the  issues  of  the  struggle  to  the 
relief  of  the  oppressed,  and  the  hastening  on  of  that  King 
dom  in  which  there  is  no  difference  between  Jew  or  Gen 
tile,  bond  or  free.  And  if  it  pleases  Him,  may  it  termi 
nate  in  the  restoration  of  the  Federal  Union  and  the 
speedy  liberation  of  the  slave. 

To  your  country  we  say  again — "  Peace  be  within  thy 
walls,  and  prosperity  within  thy  palaces.  For  our  breth 
ren  and  companions'  sakes,  we  will  now  say,  peace  be 
within  thee.  Because  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  our  God, 
we  will  seek  thy  good."  And  to  you,  sir,  we  say,  Go  in 
peace.  May  the  good  hand  of  your  God  be  upon  you 
to  lead  you  back  safely  to  the  bosom  of  your  family  and 
friends ;  and  may  your  valuable  life  be  yet  spared  many 
years  to  "  serve  your  generation  according  to  the  will  of 
God." 

WILLIAM  REES, 
JOHN  THOMAS, 
NOEL  STEPHENS, 
WILLIAM  ROBERTS, 
H.  C.  THOMAS. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

The  Rev.  Professor  GRIFFITH,  seconded  the  adop 
tion  of  the  address,  and  the  motion  was  cordially  carried. 

The  Rev.  H.  W.  BEECHER,  in  receiving  the  address, 
remarked  that  he  could  not  recognize  one  single  word  in 
the  original  except  his  own  name,  which  stood  in  English. 
Although  this  was  the  case,  he  was  more  than  pleased  to 
say  that  he  owed  no  inconsiderable  part  of  himself  to  the 
Welsh  blood  which  he  had  in  his  veins.  Mary  Roberts 
was  his  great  great  grandmother,  and  she  was  as  fully 
blooded  a  Welsh  woman  as  ever  lived.  (Cheers.) 

Mr.  J.  H.  ESTCOURT,  Chairman  of  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Union  and  Emancipation  Society,  Man 
chester,  was  received  with  cheering.  He  said  he  appeared 
there  in  an  official  and  in  a  private  capacity  :  in  the  latter 
as  a  participator,  with  the  friends  present,  in  the  last  fare 
well  to  their  friend,  the  Reverend  Henry  Ward  Beecher  ; 
in  the  former,  as  one  of  a  deputation  appointed  to  present 
to  the  reverend  gentleman  an  album,  duly  inscribed,  con 
taining  about  200  carte  de  visite  portraits  of  the  President, 
Vice-Presidents,  Executive,  and  General  Council  of  the 
Union  and  Emancipation  Society,  of  Manchester  (each 
carte  de  visite  being  inscribed  with  the  autograph  of  the 
person  represented)  as  a  token  of  the  esteem  and  affection 
entertained  towards  Mr.  Beecher  personally  ;  and  also  of 
their  admiration  of  his  manly  and  eloquent  advocacy  of 
the  claims  of  the  bondsmen  in  his  own  country,  to  free 
dom  and  to  manhood.  These  portraits  comprised  the 
leading  Liberal  members  of  the  House  of  Commons, 


344 


HENRY  WARD  BEECH ER^S  SPEECHES 


ministers  of  the  Gospel,  eminent  men  in  literature  and 
scholastic  position,  and  honest-hearted  intelligent  rep 
resentative  men  of  the  nation.  Many  of  the  best 
citizens  of  the  kingdom  were  represented  in  that 
album — those  whose  sympathies  were  true  to  liberty 
under  all  circumstances,  and  whose  moral  support 
was  ever  given  to  maintain  constitutional  Govern 
ment.  He  trusted  that  to  Mr.  Beecher  might  be 
vouchsafed  physical  and  mental  vigor,  so  that  his  future 
may  be  as  nobly  used  as  had  been  his  past.  He  believed 
that  the  time  would  come,  and  at  no  distant  day,  when 
the  "  sum  of  all  villanies  "  would  no  more  infest  the  earth 
with  its  presence,  when  it  would  have  gone  into  the  great 
past ;  and  the  oppressed  would  be  free.  When  from  the 
Saxon  language  would  be  banished  all  words  derivable 
from  or  appertaining  to  slavery,  and  our  noblest  song 
should  be,  "All  men  are  free."  He  anticipated  that  time 
with  much  joy  and  hope.  If  the  friends,  who  now  are 
gathered  around  their  guest,  a  man  honored  with  success 
and  the  blessing  of  God  as  well  as  with  the  love  of  his 
fellowmen  ;  if  they  with  him  should  be  living  then,  and 
see  the  grand  triumph  of  freedom  over  bondage,  of  good 
will  over  hatred,  of  peace  and  right  over  crimson  war  and 
and  chronic  wrong, — what  a  jubilate  would  be  sung  by 
them  in  company  with  all  the  great  and  good  men  of  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth.  May  we  all  do  our  duty  in  our 
own  time,  earnestly  and  with  courage,  and  the  fruits  would 
certainly  be  seen,  though  perchance  after  many  days  or 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  34- 

even  years.  (Applause.)  In  concluding  he  expressed  his 
belief  that  the  memorial  he  had  the  honor  to  present  to 
Mr.  Beecher,  would  be  the  medium  of  "  sunny  memories," 
and  that  some  of  the  pleasant  hours  which  he  had  spent 
in  Old  England  with  some  warm-hearted  and  loving 
friends,  would  be  revived  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic, 
across  which  he  prayed  for  the  reverend  gentleman  a  safe 
voyage.  (Applause.) 

The  Rev.  Mr.  BEECHER,  in  acknowledgment  of  the 
gift,  said  on  his  voyage  home  he  should  feel  that  multi 
tudes  accompanied  him,  and  as  he  lay  alone  in  his  berth 
he  should  feel  himself  to  be  a  noun  of  multitude.  The 
friends  of  Emancipation  should  remember  that  there  was 
room  enough  on  his  side  of  the  Atlantic  for  them.  As 
this  country  had  sent  hundreds  and  thousands  of  men 
who  had  hindered  Emancipation — the  ignorant  emigrants, 
suborned  to  the  pro-slavery  cause — so  he  thought  it  only 
right  and  fair  that  we  should  send  them  a  few  from  the 
other  extreme  to  help  the  great  cause  of  human  liberty; 
and  if  so,  he  would  accept  this  volume,  literally,  as  the 
shadow  of  great  things  to  come. 

The  close  of  the  meeting  being  announced  by  the  chair 
man,  it  was  proposed  that  they  should  bid  Mr.  Beecher 
good-by  in  the  good  old  English  style,  with  three  cheers. 
This  suggestion  was  immediately  adopted,  and  three 
ringing  hurrahs  were  given.  Many  of  Mr.  Beecher's  ad 
mirers  afterward  flocked  round  him  and  shook  him  by 
the  hands. 


346          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


ADDRESS    DELIVERED    AT    LANCASHIRE 
INDEPENDENT  COLLEGE 

ON  Saturday  afternoon,  October  ioth,  1863,  the  stu 
dents  of  the  Lancashire  Independent  College,  Withington, 
seized  the  opportunity  of  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher's 
short  visit  to  this  neighborhood  to  invite  him  to  trie  Col 
lege,  to  receive  from  them  an  address.  The  presentation 
took  place  in  the  library.  Mr.  Beecher,  who  was  accom 
panied  by  Mr.  J.  H.  Estcourt,  met  with  an  enthusiastic 
reception. 

The  following  is  a  copy  of  the  address,  which  was  read 
and  presented  by  Mr.  Atkinson,  the  senior  student  : — 

REVEREND  AND  DEAR  SIR  :  We,  the  students  of  the 
Lancashire  Independent  College,  heartily  welcome  you 
amongst  us  to-day.  We  rejoice  to  see  you  in  our  college. 
Though  we  have  not  had  the  opportunity  of  becoming 
personally  acquainted  with  you  till  now,  we  have  long 
known  you  through  your  writings,  and  through  the  fame 
you  have  acquired  in  your  own  country  and  the  world  as  a 
Christian  minister  and  a  philanthropist.  We  have  heard 
much  of  your  public  career.  And  it  is  with  a  special  ad 
miration  that  we  call  to  mind  the  firm  and  persistent  op 
position  which  you  presented  to  the  compromise  which 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 

issued  in  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law — the  protection  which, 
in  defiance  of  that  law,  you  have  undauntedly  afforded  to 
the  negro  runaway — the  manly  stand  you  have  taken  in 
society  in  opposition  to  an  unworthy  and  unchristian  prej 
udice  against  men  of  color — and  the  efforts  you  have 
made  against  overwhelming  odds  to  obtain  liberty  and 
free  speech  for  black  men  and  white  men  alike.  But 
while  we  hail  you  as  the  friend  of  the  negro  and  the 
champion  of  the  oppressed,  we,  as  students  for  the  Chris 
tian  ministry,  are  still  more  deeply  interested  in  your  ca 
reer  as  a  minister  of  the  gospel ;  and  we  take  this  oppor 
tunity  of  assuring  you  that  the  noble  example  you  have 
set  us,  in  earnest,  self-denying,  and  practical  work  for 
Christ,  has  inspired  us  with  the  warmest  sympathy  and 
regard.  We  wish  you,  reverend  and  dear  sir,  health  and 
long  life  ;  and  our  prayer  shall  be  that  you  may  be  en 
abled,  by  God's  blessing,  still  further  to  promote  the  in 
terests  of  pure  religion  in  your  country,  and  to  place  the 
top-stone  on  that  edifice  of  social  and  religious  freedom 
which  you  have  so  nobly  labored  to  raise. 

THE  LANCASHIRE   INDEPENDENT   COLLEGE, 
io//z     October    1863. 

Mr.  BEECHER,  on  rising  to  reply,  was  loudly  applaud 
ed.  He  said  :  Although  I  am  pressed  for  time,  I  could 
not  deprive  myself  of  the  pleasure  of  meeting  you,  for  I 
feel  a  most  lively  interest  in  all  young  men  who  are  pre 
paring  themselves  for  that  which  I  esteem  to  be  the  inos- 
honorable  and  by  far  the  happiest  work  in  life — the 


348 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


Christian  ministry.  My  father,  you  know,  was  a  clergy 
man  before  me,  and  it  pleased  God  to  give  him  eight  sons. 
Every  one  of  them  is  a  minister  of  the  gospel,  and  their 
children  are — not  all,  but  in  numbers,  also  becoming  cler 
gymen.  I  can  say  that  I  am  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews. 
(Laughter  and  applause.)  My  own  ministration  has  ex 
tended  over  a  period  of  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  years. 
Having  been  born  and  educated  in  New  England,  I  was 
called,  immediately  after  my  graduation  at  college,  to 
leave  for  the  West,  where  I  labored  for  fifteen  years  as  a 
settled  pastor  in  the  Presbyterian  Church.  In  our  coun 
try,  Presbyterians  take  Congregational  Churches,  and 
Congregationalists  Presbyterian,  indifferently  ;  and  I  was 
called  to  minister  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  the 
West,  studying  and  preaching  in  the  midst  of  communi 
ties  where,  from  recent  settlement  and  spareness  of  pop 
ulation,  there  was  much  missionary  work  to  be  done. 
My  study  was  my  saddle  for  years  of  my  life.  After 
that  I  was  removed  to  the  great  metropolis  of  our  country 
— Brooklyn  being  really  part  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
separated  only  by  a  river.  There  I  have  pursued  my 
ministry  from  that  day  to  this,  in  a  time  of  agitation  un 
paralleled  in  the  history  of  our  country.  I  have  stated 
these  facts  because  I  wish  to  bear  witness  that  after  this 
experience,  and  with  the  knowledge  that  I  now  have,  if 
any  office  of  State,  or  any  office  in  society  of  any  descrip 
tion  whatever  were  proffered  me  as  an  honor,  or  as  a 
place  of  joy  and  comfort,  I  should,  without  any  hesitation^ 


IN  ENGLAND  AY'  1863.  349 

reject  them  each  and  all,  as  being  less  than  the  gospel 
ministry.  (Applause.)  To  a  young  man  who  looks  out 
with  some  proper  diffidence  of  his  own  powers  ;  who  is 
uncertain  whether  he  shall  succeed  or  not ;  who  has,  if 
he  be  a  cautious  man  by  nature,  some  provident  fears  as 
to  support  and  as  to  relative  position  in  society,  it  ought  to 
be  something  encouraging  to  hear  one  as  old  as  I  am,  and 
after  so  many  years  of  ministration,  say  that  there  is  no 
where  else  in  the  world  where  the  promise  of  the  Saviour  is 
so  sure  to  be  fulfilled,  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  shall  be  added 
unto  you."  Young  gentlemen, — if  you  seek  a  settlement 
for  the  purpose  of  forestalling  God's  providence  and  mak 
ing  your  own  arrangements ;  if  it  is  an  ambitious  settle 
ment,  if  it  is  a  profitable  settlement,  you  put  that  promise 
away  from  you.  You  make  men  your  almoners  and  treas 
urers,  not  God.  But  I  had  rather  settle  in  poverty  with 
God  for  my  treasurer  than  take  the  most  ambitious  position 
in  life  with  only  man  to  lean  upon.  He  never  betrays  his 
promises,  and  although  I  have  seen  days  of  poverty,  days 
also  of  abundance,  under  both  circumstances  I  have  the 
most  simple,  unfeigned,  and  child-like  faith  in  this,  that  if 
a  man  will  without  reserve  give  himself  to  the  work  of  God, 
God  will  put  about  him  the  everlasting  arms  of  his  sup 
port,  and  he  never,  not  for  an  hour,  not  for  a  moment, 
whatever  the  seeming  may  be,  will  be  betrayed  or  for 
saken.  You  may  trust  God,  and  you  may  give  yourselves, 
without  a  thought  for  external  matters,  to  the  work  of  the 


350 


HENRY  WARD  BEE  CHER'S  SPEECHES 


ministration  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  this  leads  me 
to  say  that  for  this  work  you  must  love  Christ.  There 
are  a  great  many  religious  people  in  the  world,  but  I  am 
afraid  not  many  Christians.  There  are  many  whose  re 
ligion  is  duty ;  whose  religion  is  worship,  or  submission, 
or  holy  fear  and  reverence  ;  which  are  all  indispensable 
auxiliaries.  But  no  man  is  a  Christian  who  does  not  love. 
And  it  is  love,  as  a  very  torrid  zone  in  the  heart,  and 
love  to  Christ  as  distinguished  from  the  Father  or  the 
Spirit  that  makes  a  man  a  Christian.  And  where  one  has 
that  heroic  inspiration  ;  where  more  than  father,  more 
than  mother,  more  than  wife,  more  than  child,  more  than 
friends,  more  than  self,  he,  loving  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
has  the  witness  of  it  day  by  day  in  his  own  soul,  so  that 
all  these  other  relationships  derive  their  odor,  their  flavor, 
their  light,  and  their  beauty  from  the  reflection  of  the  higher 
love  in  him  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  where  it  is  his  life, 
so  that  he  can  say  with  the  apostle,  "  The  life  which  I 
live  in  the  flesh  I  live  by  faith  in  the  Son  of  God  " — then 
it  will  become  easy  to  do  it  :  otherwise  hard.  I  beseech 
of  you  never  to  neglect  a  duty;  never  to  cease  to  culti 
vate  conscience  ;  but  I  beseech  of  you  do  not  go  into  the 
ministry  to  be  merely  duty-performing  ministers.  Let 
me  say,  without  offensive  personality,  that  I  do  not 
preach  because  it  is  my  duty,  I  do  not  work  because  it  is 
my  duty.  I  both  preach  and  I  labor,  because  I  don't 
know  anything  on  earth  that  is  so  pleasant  to  me.  I  love 
it.  Every  year  it  pleases  my  people  to  give  me  some  four 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  3  5  ! 

Sabbaths  of  rest,  and  the  weeks  on  either  side  make  it  a 
rest  of  about  six  secular  weeks.  I  am  always  glad  to  go 
away  and  rest,  for  I  am  very  tired  when  the  hot  month  of 
August  comes  ;  but  I  can  bear  witness  that  I  go  back  a 
great  deal  more  glad  to  my  work  than  ever  I  went  away 
from  it.  (Applause  and  laughter.)  I  have  to  say  again 
and  again,  "  After  all,  vacation  is  the  heaviest  month  in 
the  year  to  me."  And  yet  that  season  is  happy,  it  is 
floral,  it  is  full  of  God  in  nature ;  but  to  stand  among  my 
my  people, — to  look  among  those  faces  that  I  shall  see 
yet  glorified, — to  know  that  I  bear  my  Master's  heart  in 
my  hand,  and  that  I  am  laboring  for  Christ,  and  am  to 
present  spotless  before  the  throne  of  eternal  glory  those 
whom  He  has  committed  to  my  charge;  to  see  the  evolu 
tions  of  God's  grace  in  the  hearts  of  men  ;  to  trace,  to 
follow,  to  aid— I  know  of  nothing  under  the  sun  that  is 
such  fruition  and  such  joy,  and  such  continual  peace  as 
that.  If  you  consulted  but  selfish  joy,  if  that  were  a  pos 
sible  thing,  you  had  better  be  a  minister  of  Christ's  gos 
pel — not  a  fearing  minister,  not  an  anxious  minister,  not 
a  minister  that  is  always  talking  and  thinking  about  his 
"  awful  responsibilities."  (Laughter)  That  is  the  way  a 
slave  should  talk,  but  that  is  not  the  way,  as  a  Son  of 
God,  you  should  talk.  You  are  children  ! — not  servants 
— who  have  been  taken  into  the  bosom  and  confidence  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  what  have  you  to  talk  about 
"  awful  responsibilities."  Love  and  trust  are  the  victori 
ous  mottoes  of  every  Christian  minister.  No  evil  can 


352 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER'S  SPEECHES 


befall  you  ;  nothing  can  harm  you,  if^  ye  be  followers  of 
Christ.  To  go  cheerfully,  and  hoping,  and  loving,  and 
courageous,  and  undaunted,  always  sure  that  there  is  a 
Providence  in  which  you  are  moving — this  is  indeed,  to 
be  a  free  man.  And  there  is  nothing  that  takes  away 
the  fear  of  man  and  the  fear  of  human  society,  and  noth 
ing  which  takes  away  that  fear  which  is  the  most  trouble 
some  of  all,  the  fear  that  works  through  conscience, 
so  much  as  love.  "  Love  casts  out  fear,"  and  it  is  not 
perfected  till  it  does.  And  is  there  no  fear  in  Christian 
experience  ?  Yes.  Just  like  the  sub-bass  in  the  organ  : 
while  both  hands  are  carrying  the  full  harmony  and 
the  melodies  above,  there  is  far  down,  but  as  a  mere 
lower  foundation,  the  rolling  sub-bass.  Down  there  let 
conscience  and  fear  thunder,  but  high  above  let  all  the 
harmonies  and  melodies  of  heaven  sound  out  more  full, 
clear,  and  more  cutting,  and  lead  the  rest.  (Applause.) 
I  do  not  know  how  it  is  with  you  in  England — I  am  not 
competent  to  speak  to  you  of  your  duties  in  parishes  here 
—things  are  different.  I  shall  not  venture  a  single  word 
in  that  regard.  In  our  country  ministers  are  more  free. 
I  take,  and  we  take,  a  larger  scope  than  you  do  here. 
Everything  of  that  kind  must  depend  on  your  own  good 
sense,  which  must  judge  of  the  institutions,  manners, 
customs,  and  opinions  that  are  round  about  you,  and  that 
will  take  on  a  different  form  in  different  periods  and 
different  nations.  With  us,  because  all  public  questions 
are  settled  by  the  common  people's  vote,  we  are  obliged, 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  353 

wherever  that  public^  question  carries  moral  influence  with 
it,  to  regard  the  moral  side  of  all  public  questions.  And 
that  gives  a  latitude  to  the  minister  of  the  gospel.  I 
don't  know  but  you  take  it  here  ;  but  I  have  an  impres 
sion  that  you  do  not  to  any  such  extent  as  we  do.  Just 
now,  the  ministry  of  our  own  country  are  called,  in  a 
signal  and  extraordinary  manner,  into  public  affairs.  I 
shall  not  trouble  you  with  any  general  remarks  in  respect 
to  the  struggle  in  America,  but  only  to  say  this,  that 
never  before  or  since  the  founding  of  the  colonies,  were 
all  the  churches  of  America  so  nearly  unified  as  they  are 
to-day.  I  have  with  me  elsewhere  the  resolutions  of 
Lutherans,  Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians;  of  every 
shade  of  Congregationalists  ;  of  Episcopalians,  and  all 
and  every  denomination  save  the  Catholic,  running 
through  three  years,  from  North,  South,  Middle  States, 
East  and  West — the  most  Conservative  hitherto — all  of 
them  with  one  testimony  and  one  feeling,  in  respect  to 
the  condition  of  things  in  our  country.  It  is  sometimes 
said  that  the  North  deserves  no  sympathy,  because  there 
is  no  sincerity,  no  heartiness  in  its  movements  in  this 
subject.  The  man  that  says  that  in  England  is  but  igno 
rant  ;  the  man  that  says  that  in  America  is  a  knave. 
No  sincerity !  There  is  nothing  else  in  the  Christian 
community — ministers  and  people — that  is  so  inwrought 
into  the  very  feeling  and  fulness  of  their  life  as  never  was 
any  external  and  secular  aspect  of  affairs  before  since 
America  was  discovered.  Why,  it  is  a  portion  of  their 
23 


354 


HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 


religion,  just  as  much  as  the  emancipation  of  the 
Israelites  was  a  part  of  Moses'  religion.  We  feel  called 
in  the  matter  of  God  by  a  Providence  which  speaks 
as  loud^  to  our  ears,  as  ever  the  top  of  Sinai  spoke  to 
Moses',  or  to  the  Hebrews'  ears.  And  it  is  the  business 
of  the  Gospel  to  produce  the  manhood  of  four  millions 
of  the  human  race,  denuded  of  manhood — we  feel  that 
it  is  the  peculiar  work  of  the  Gospel  in  America  in  this 
age.  The  whole  air  is  full  of  sincerity  and  of  religious 
conviction,  and  there  is  almost  no  division  of  opinion  on 
that  subject.  There  never  was  a  more  sublime  moral 
spectacle  than  that  singular  and  unsought  unison  which  it 
has  pleased  God,  by  the  pressure  of  external  circumstances, 
to  bring  to  pass  in  the  American  Church  at  this  time. 
And  now  I  ask — not  that  you  should  commit  yourselves 
one  way  or  another,  but  you  are  men  of  prayer,  or  why 
are  you  here  preparing  for  sacred  avocations  ? — I  ask 
that  you  will  not  forget  to  pray  for  America.  And  I  ask 
that  you  will  pray  such  prayers  that  angels  can  with  self- 
respect  carry  them  up  to  God,  for  I  have  heard  prayers 
that  I  did  not  believe  an  angel  would  touch.  (Laughter.) 
Not  then,  those  prayers  so  cautiously  circuitous  as  to 
touch  everything  without  touching  anything — (laughter) 
— not  prayers  that  shall  give  you  an  appearance  of  do 
ing  your  duty,  without  committing  yourself  one  way  or 
another  ;  not  prayers,  so  far  South  as  not  to  commit  you 
with  the  North,  and  so  far  North  as  not  to  commit  you 
with  the  South.  (Applause.)  Pray  for  something,  and 


rN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  355 

mean  it.  And  if  you  believe  that  liberty  is  a  part  of  the 
Gospel  work  ;'  if  you  believe  that  God  is  preparing  the 
way  for  the  emancipation  of^  four  million  men  :  and  I 
know  it,  I  feel  it  in  my  soul  as  if  it  were  an  inspiration 
and  a  revelation — then  pray  that  the  hand  of  those  men 
in  the  North — the  whole  Christian  brotherhood — that 
are  now  being  lifted  up  to  support  the  hands  of  our 
President  may  be  strengthened.  For  while  his  hands  are 
up  Israel  prevails,  and  when  they  fall,  Amalek  prevails. 
Pray  that  his  hands  may  be  held  up,  and  that  the  church 
of  Christ  may  not  in  America  backslide  from  her  witness 
and  her  fidelity  to  this  great  cause  of  God  among  men. 
Should  any  of  you  come  to  our  shores — it  is  not  improba 
ble—come  early.  After  men  are  forty  years  old  it  is  not 
wise  to  emigrate  as  a  rule  ;  men  should  emigrate  while 
yet  young,  if  they  are  ever  to  do  it.  Then,  they  change 
circumstances  easily.  Their  roots  are  not  grown  into  the 
soil;  they  are  adaptable  to  new  times,  new  circumstances, 
new  relations.  I  suppose  you  are  wanted  in  England. 
I  do  not  know  how  much  ;  but  I  do  know  that  there 
never  were  fairer  fields,  nobler  opportunities  for  useful 
ness  for  men  that  in  the  ministry  sought  not  themselves 
but  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  than  in  the  ample  and  ever 
new  opening  States  of  our  Western  country.  I  have  la 
bored  there.  I  know  the  privations;  but  I  know  the 
joys.  It  is  a  supreme  gladness  to  labor  at  the  founda 
tion.  Other  men  shall  come  and  build  finer  structures, 
but  the  tears  that  missionaries  shed,  the  prayers  that  men 


356       HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

offer  under  the  trees  where  they  labor  in  the  woods  ;  the 
sacrifices  men  make,  and  are  glad  that  they  make  them' 
and  quite  laugh  at  them  ;  there  is  nothing  more  precious 
in  human  experience,  than  the  joys  of  Christ's  mission 
ary,  with  hope  and  faith  very  far  surpassing  the  joys 
from  secular  sources.  The  nearer  you  live  to  God,  the 
more  you  give  yourselves  up  to  him,  the  higher  and 
happier  you  will  be,  and  the  stronger.  And  while  I  would 
not  ask  you  to  dismiss  the  gifts  of  understanding,  or  to 
seek  less  than  the  most  perfect  education  your  time  and 
means  allow,  for  you  will  have  need  of  all  of  it  ;  yet  the 
foundation  of  all  education,  the  very  prime  motive  power 
by  which  it  should  be  all  directed,  is  love — love  to  God, 
and  love  to  man.  May  that  God,  by  whom  we  both  live 
and  hope,  bless  you ;  and  may  our  respective  spheres  of 
labor  bring  us  to  meet  together  in  the  unchanging  clime 
of  Heaven.  (Applause.) 

On  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Handley,  seconded  by  Mr. 
Robinson,  a  vote  of  thanks  was  given  to  Mr.  Beecher  for 
his  visit  and  address. 

Mr.  Beecher  was  then  conducted  over  the  college,  and 
departed,  the  students  cheering  him  from  the  steps  till 
the  cab  in  which  he  rode  away  was  out  of  sight. 


IN  ENGLAND  IN  1863. 


ADDRESS   TO   THE   STUDENTS  OF   THE   NON 
CONFORMIST  COLLEGE. 

ON  Thursday  evening,  October  22,  1863,  the  Rev. 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  entertained  at  a  soir/e,  and 
presented  with  an  address  by  the  students  of  five  of  the 
Nonconformist  Colleges  in  and  about  London — namely, 
the  Independent  Colleges  of  St.  John's  Wood  and  Hack 
ney,  the  Countess  of  Huntingdon's  College  at  Cheshunt, 
the  Baptist  College,  Regent's  Park,  and  the  Presbyterian 
Theological  Hall,  Queen's  Square.  The  place  of  meeting 
was  the  Institution,  at  St.  John's  Wood,  and  the  number 
of  students  that  assembled  was  about  250.  When  tea 
and  coffee  had  been  served,  the  company  repaired  to  the 
spacious  library,  and  on  Mr.  Beecher's  entrance  accom 
panied  by  Dr.  Halley,  Dr.  Spence,  Dr.  Tomkins,  Rev.  T. 
Binney,  Rev.  A.  Raleigh,  Rev.  James  Stratten,  Professors 
Newth  and  Nenner,  the  Rev.  Kilsby  Jones,  and  some 
other  gentlemen,  he  was  greeted  with  loud  and  prolonged 
applause. 

The  Rev.  ROBERT  HALLEY,  D.D.,  president  of  the 
college,  took  the  chair,  and  a  hymn  having  been  first 
sung,  he  said  he  was  sure  he  might  say  that  it  afforded  all 
present  the  highest  gratification  and  delight  to  receive  in 


3  5  8      HENR  y  WARD  BEECHER  *s  SPEECHES 

their  midst  from  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic  such  a 
man  as  the  Rev.  Henry  Ward  Beecher — (loud  cheers) — 
not  only  as  the  son  of  Dr.  Beecher,  whose  writings  were 
well  known  in  this  country  and  greatly  valued,  or  as  the 
brother  of  Mrs.  Stowe,  the  talented  author  of  that  remark 
able  book,  "Uncle  Tom's  Cabin,"  but  also,  and  chiefly 
as  a  man  who  was  himself  both  well  known  and  esteemed 
in  Great  Britain  as  a  writer,  a  preacher,  and  a  platform 
orator,  and  one  who  had  rendered  most  important  service 
to  the  cause  of  human  freedom  in  America  long  before 
the  existing  war  broke  out.  They  could  not  have  such  a 
gentleman  among  them  without  feelings  of  pleasure,  and 
would  rejoice  to  receive  any  of  those  honored  men  whose 
names  Mr.  Beecher  had  mentioned  on  Tuesday  evening, 
who  had  done  and  suffered  so  much  for  what  they  be 
lieved,  and  what  the  Christian  people  of  England  be 
lieved,  to  be  the  cause  of  liberty,  of  truth,  and  of  Chris 
tianity  in  America.  (Cheers.)  This  being  a  students' 
meeting,  he  would  say  no  more,  but  call  upon  Mr.  Jones, 
the  senior  student  of  New  College,  to  read  the  address. 

Mr.  JONES  accordingly  stood  forward  and  read  the 
following  document : — 

REVEREND  AND  DEAR  SIR,  We,  the  students  of  the  In 
dependent,  Baptist,  and  Presbyterian  Colleges  are  glad  to 
welcome  you  among  us  this  evening.  We  do  this  in  no 
spirit  of  cold  formality,  but  in  the  sincerity  of  our  hearts, 
assured  that  you  are  a  man  called  of  God  to  a  great  and 
good  work.  We  esteem  it  an  honor,  knowing  that  your 


M  ENGLAND  Itf  1863.  359 

time  is  so  limited  and  so  fully  occupied,  to  receive  a  visit 
from  so  distinguished  a  stranger  and  so  eminent  a  minis 
ter.  We  recognize  in  you  one  who  has  devoted  his  best 
energies  and  the  rare  abilities  with  which  God  has  en 
dowed  you  to  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  freedom, 
and  the  moral  and  social  elevation  of  the  degraded  and 
oppressed.  During  the  whole  course  of  your  public  life 
you  have  ever  indignantly  condemned  the  monstrous  sin 
and  curse  of  slaver)'-,  and  maintained  with  all  your  elo 
quence  and  at  much  cost  the  common  rights  and  heritage 
of  humanity.  And  our  earnest  hope  is  that  you  may  soon 
see  the  reward  of  your  labor  in  the  abolition  of  the  social 
distinctions  of  color,  and  in  the  renewed  prosperity  of  the 
American  Republic.  Not  only  do  we  honor  you  as  a 
social  reformer,  and  one  to  whom  the  best  interests  of 
your  country  are  dear,  but  we  especially  welcome  you  to 
this  college  as  a  Christian  minister.  While  thankful  that 
in  the  past  God  has  so  eminently  blessed  you  as  a 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  we  pray  that  He  will  graciously 
bestow  upon  you  health,  strength,  and  long  life,  that  you 
may  be  still  more  useful  in  your  important  labors  in  the 
Christian  ministry,  and  that  you  may  be  increasingly  able 
by  your  advocacy  in  the  pulpit,  on  the  platform,  and 
through  the  press  to  hasten  the  time  when  God's  %vill  shall 
be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  address  was  signed  representatively  by  the  senior 
students  of  each  college. 

Mr.  BEECH ER  on  rising  to  respond  was  again  warmly 


360          HENRY  WARD  BEECHER^S  SPEECHES 

cheered.     He  felt  deeply  grateful,  he  said,  for  the  kindly 
greeting  that  had  been  given  him.     It  was  much  pleas- 
anter  to  his  mind  and  heart  than  the  tumultuous  welcome 
of  larger  and  more  promiscuous  assemblies ;   and  he  was 
particularly  pleased  with  that  part  of  the  address  in  which 
he  was  recognized  as  a  Christian  minister.     Love  towards 
Christ  was  a  bond  which  united  them   so  closely  as   to 
make  them  blood  relations,  and  caused  them  to  be  dear 
to  each  other  on  earth,  and  filled  them  with  the  hope  of 
sweeter  friendship  and  nobler  joys.     He  disclaimed  the 
idea  of  having  suffered  losses  on  account  of  his  exertions 
in  the  cause  of  human    freedom,  because  he  had  never 
looked  for  the  rewards  of  position  and  public  favor  on 
account  of  anything  he  had   done,  and  because  he  had 
always  felt  it  to  be  an  unspeakable  honor  and  reward  to 
be  permitted  to  engage  in  the  work  of  Christ,  and  to  do 
anything  for  Him.     Even  sufferings  for  the  Master's  sake 
was  a  blessed  thing.     In  accepting  the  invitation  to  meet 
the  brethren  now  present  he  had  no  thought  of  speaking 
to  them  on  American   affairs,  and  would  confine  his  re 
marks  to  matters    relating    to   Christian   work.     Accord 
ingly,  he  proceeded  to  advise  the  young  men  regarding 
their  studies  while  at  college,  and  touched  upon  various 
points   appertaining  to  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
their  after  days.     He  set  out  by  strongly  urging  due  at 
tention  to  the  laws  of  bodily  health,  as  often  fundamental 
to   success.     Morbid  ideas  of  religion,  and  many  of  the 
heresies  of  the  Church  had  sprung  from  bad  digestions — 


tN  ENGLAND  IN  1863.  361 

(laughter  and  cheers) — for  depend  upon  it  a  very  close 
connection  subsisted  between  the  brain  and  the  stomach. 
The  New  Testament  commanded  men  to  consecrate  their 
bodies  as  much  as  their  souls  to  God.  He  earnestly  ex 
horted  the  students  to  acquire  as  much  knowledge  as  pos 
sible  before  the  time  came  for  them  to  enter  upon  the 
active  duties  of  their  profession,  assured  that  they  would 
find  their  work  vastly  easier  by  so  doing ;  and  cautioned 
them  against  supposing  that  any  sort  of  degree  of  mental 
attainments  would  make  up  for  the  want  of  personal 
piety.  By  this,  he  said,  he  did  not  mean  merely  the  ec 
clesiastical  idea  of  piety,  the  relation  of  the  soul  towards 
God,  but  its  relations  also  towards  man — the  Divine 
awakening  of  the  entire  faculties,  powers,  and  affections, 
and  their  employment  for  the  good  of  humanity  as  well 
as  for  the  glory  of  the  Most  High.  Religion  did  not  con 
sist  only  in  prayer  and  meditation,  but  in  genial  sympa 
thy  and  brotherly  love,  showing  itself  in  acts  of  benevo 
lence.  As  ministers,  they  were  not  to  seek  their  own 
ease,  or  for  high  social  position,  but  to  forget  themselves 
in  their  work,  endeavoring  only  to  be  useful,  and  then  a 
blessed  reward  would  never  fail  to  be  obtained.  Mr. 
Beecher  discoursed  at  some  length,  and  in  eloquent  words 
upon  the  necessity  of  fervency  of  feeling  in  order  to 
rouse  the  indifferent  and  to  be  generally  successful  in  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel.  Good  sense  was  also  an  indis 
pensable  qualification,  and  this  would  regulate  the  warmth 
and  zeal  which  should  never  be  allowed  to  run  wild ;  let 


362         HENKY  WARD  BEECffER *S  SPEECHES. 

them  be  disciplined,  but  never  lost.  The  minister  of  the 
Gospel,  moreover,  must  have  a  firm  faith  in  the  truths  he 
taught,  believe  in  them  as  undoubtingly  as  men  did  in 
material  things,  and  resolve  to  stand  by  his  convictions  at 
all  costs,  ever  keeping  before  the  mind  the  shortness  of 
time  and  the  eternity  that  is  to  follow.  Mr.  Beecher  con 
cluded  by  offering  prayer. 

A  vote  of  thanks  for  the  address,  moved  and  seconded 
by  the  senior  students  of  Regent's  Park  and  Cheshunt 
Colleges,  was  carried  unanimously,  and  with  the  utmost 
enthusiasm. 

Dr.  HALLEY  spoke  with  much  earnestness  and  feel 
ing  upon  the  essential  unity  subsisting  between  the  peo 
ples  of  England  and  of  America,  and  uttered  a  fervent 
hope  that  before  a  great  while,  by  the  intervention  of 
Divine  Providence,  the  horrors  of  war  might  cease,  and 
liberty  for  all  ranks  and  races  prevail  over  the  broad  and 
glorious  continent  of  America,  and,  united  in  sympathy 
and  in  effort  with  England,  set  an  example  to  the  world, 
and  diffuse  Christian  civilizatiori  over  every  region  of  the 
earth.  (Loud  cheers.) 

The  benediction  having  been  pronounced,  the  proceed 
ings  terminated. 


INDEX. 

Speech  at  Manchester 5-51 

Speech  at  Glasgow 52-94 

Speech  at  Edinburgh 95-127 

Speech  at  Liverpool 128-171 

Speech  at  London 172-224 

Farewell  Meeting  at  London 225-261 

Farewell  Meeting  at  Manchester 262-310 

Fart  well  Meeting  at  Liverptol 311-345 

Address  at  Lancashire  Independent  College 346-356 

Address  to  Students  of  Nonconformist  Colleges 357-362 


Abolitionist  Party — difference  between  it  and  the  Anti-Slavery 
Party,  305. 

Abolitionists    Early — treatment  of  the,  33,  106. 

Abolition  Society — first  in  America,  was  founded  in  a  portion  of 
the  Southern  States,  25 

Adams,  Charles  Francis — his  correspondence  with  Mr.  Seward, 
279 

Address — presented  to  Mr.  Beecher  at  Manchester,  7;  at  London, 
226;  at  Liverpool,  316;  by  the  Welsh  Ministry  at  Liverpool, 
330;  by  the  Lancashire  Independent  College,  346;  by  Non 
conformist  ColJege  Students,  358;  of  colored  people  of  New 
York  in  acknowledgment  of  Riot  Relief  fund,  239. 

African  Slave  Trade — less  cruel  than  the  Interstate  Slave  Trade,  73. 

Alexander,  Dr. — his  address  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  122. 

America — her  relations  with  England  and  France,  18,  58. 

American  Tract  Society — exclusion  from  its  publications  of  every 
thing  against  slavery,  125. 

American  Soldier— Mr.  Beecher's  tribute  to  the,  337. 


364  INDEX. 

American  War — magnitude  of  its  interests,  and  how  much  involved 

in  it,  274;  a  source  of  education  to  the  North,  333. 
Anderson,  Rev.  Dr. — his  address  at  Glasgow  meeting,  53. 
Anti-Slavery  Party — as  distinguished  from  the  Abolitionist  Party, 

305. 

Anti-Slavery  resolutions  of  various  ecclesiastical  bodies  in  Amer 
ica,  244,  353. 

Ash  worth,  George  L.,  Esq. — his  address  at  Manchester  Farewell 
Meeting,  264. 

Bazley,  Thomas,  M.  P.— his  address  at  Manchester  meeting,  9. 

Beecher,  Henry  Ward — his  work  in  England,  commended  by  Oli 
ver  Wendell  Holmes,  i;  on  the  relations  of  Great  Britain 
and  America,  18;  his  praise  of  Queen  Victoria,  19  his  trib 
ute  to  the  early  abolitionists,  33,  106;  on  Mr.  Calhoun's  doc 
trine,  34  on  the  Fugitive  Slave  bill,  35:  on  the  Missouri 
Comprom  se,  36,  108 ;  on  the  perfidy  of  the  Buchanan  ad 
ministration,  37;  on  Secession,  39,  198;  in  reply  to  Lord 
Wharncliffe,  41;  on  the  treatment  of  colored  people  in  the 
North,  45;  on  Frederick  Douglass,  47;  on  the  death  of  Col. 
Shaw  at  Fort  Wagner,  49;  his  praise  of  Scotland,  54;  on 
labor  in  the  North  and  South,  63;  on  slave-breeding,  60, 
151  on  the  atrocities  of  the  slave  trade,  74;  personal  tribute 
to  Alexander  H.  Stephens,  75;  describes  the  uprising  of  the 
North,  77,  answers  ihc  question:  "Why  not  let  the  South 
go?'  80,  8,;  admits  the  gallantry  of  the  Southern  people, 
83,  119  on  the  comp>  sit  on  of  the  Union  army,  86;  his 
open  defiance  of  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law,  88;  on  the  tak 
ing  of  Mason  and  Slideli  from  the  British  steamer  Trent, 
93,  his  recital  of  <arly  colonial  history,  100;  on  the  suc 
cessive  periods  of  Union,  101;  on  ihe  mutations  of  slav 
ery,  104;  on  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison,  107;  his  account  of 
how  Kansas  was  made  a  free  Siate,  no;  on  Earl  Rus 
sell's  speech  at  Blairgowrie,  116;  his  eulogy  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  121,  192;  on  the  tariff  question,  148;  on  the 
privileges  of  colored  people  in  Plymouth  Chuich,  167, 
2$S;  on  the  Morril  tariff,  168;  on  the  danger  of  Iar6e  stand 
ing  armies,  200;  on  England's  assumed  horror  of  war, 
206,  243;  on  the  New  York  riots,  236,  292;  he  answers 
the  question:  "Is  this  to  be  a  war  of  extermination?"  255; 
his  tribute  to  newspaper  reporters,  275;  his  explanation  of 
the  "Trent"  difficulty,  277;  on  the  financial  condition  of  the 
North,  283;  his  tribute  to  Wendell  Phillips,  307;  on  the 
English  and  American  systems  of  government,  330;  carica 
tured  by  London  Punch,  337. 


IXDEX.  3^5 

Beecher,  Lyman,  D.D. — English  appreciation  of  his  writings,  358. 

Bell,  Geo.  A.,  Esq. — letter  from,  to  Mr.  Beecher,  236. 

Birrell,  Rev.  C   M. — his  address  at  Liverpool  meeting,  170. 

Bright,  John,  M.  P. — letter  from,  6,  262;  tribute  to,  315. 

Brougham,  Lord — his  attitude  of  hostility  to  the  Union  cause, 
260,  273. 

Buchanan,  James — his  administration  criticized,  37. 

Buxton,  Sir  T.  Powell — his  adventure  with  a  mad  dog,  202. 

Calhoun,  John  C. — his  doctrines  defined,  34,  104. 

Clay,  Henry — on  the  profits  of  slave  breeding,  61;  his  relations 
to  the  Missouri  compromise,  108;  the  champion  of  a  high 
tar  ff,  148. 

Colored  People — their  treatment  in  the  North,  45,  47,  156;  at 
Plymouth  Church,  167,  288;  their  gallantry  in  the  field,  49. 

Constitution,  The — recognizes  slavery  as  a  fact,  but  not  as  doc 
trine,  302. 

Declaration  of  Independence — declared  in  law,  a  bill  of  emanci 
pation,  25. 

Derby,  Lord — his  part  in  negro  emancipation,  273. 

Douglass,  Fred. — Mr.  Beecher's  tribute  to  his  eloquence,  47. 

Dred  Scott  Decision — Mr.  Beecher's  reply  to  an  inquiry  concern 
ing  the,  304. 

Emancipation  Proclamation,  84,  194,  319;  Mr.  Lincoln's  delay  in 
issuing  it,  115. 

England — the  natural  ally  of  America,  92;  her  horror  of  war 
not  borne  ou-  by  her  history,  206,  243;  her  relations  with 
the  North  defined  and  criticized  by  Mr.  Beecher,  326;  her 
s  stem  of  government  contrasted  with  that  of  America,  329. 

Estcourt,  J.  H.,  Esq. — his  address  a  Manchester  meeting,  12;  at 
Liverpool  farewell  meeting,  343. 

Federal  Taxes — how  apportioned,  30,  296. 

Foster,  Wm.  E.,  M.P. — Letter  from,  6,  262. 

Fremont,  John  C. — cheated  out  of  the  Presidency,  no. 

Fugitive  Slave  Law — 35,  109,  298;  Mr.  Beecher's  reply  to  an 
inquiry  concerning  the,  304. 

Fulton  F^rry  Omnibuses — colored  people  not  allowed  to  ride  in, 
169. 

Garrison,  Wm.   Lloyd- his  treatment  by  the  Boston   Mob, 
tribute  to,  306. 

Gavazzi,  Father — present  at  the  Manchester  meeting,  5. 

German  Emigrants— their  attitude  against  slavery,  71. 

Govan,  Bailie — his  address  at  Glasgow  meeting,  52. 

Hall,  Rev,  Newman — his  address  at  London  meeting,  212. 


366  INDEX. 

Halley,  Robert.    D.   D. — his   address    at    reception   by  Noncon 
formist  College  Students,  357. 

Holmes,  Oliver  Wendell — extract  from   "Our  Minister    Plenipo 
tentiary  "  in  Atlantic  Monthly,  January,  1864,  page  i. 

Hughes,  Archbishop — h  s  address  to  the  New  York  rioters,  293. 

Inter-State    Slave   Trade— more    cruel    than    the    African    slave 
trade,  73. 

Irish  People — Mr.  Beecher's  admiration  for  the — ,  46. 

Jonnston,  Dr.  George — his  address  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  123. 

Kansas — made  a  free  State  by  Northern1  emigration,  36,   no. 

Labor — in  the  North  and  South  contrasted,  64. 

Laird,  John — the  builder  of  the  Alabama,  315. 

Lincoln,  Abraham — his  election  to  the   Pre  idency,  38,    no;  his 
firmness  commended,  121;  Mr.  Beecher's  eulogy  of,  192. 

London  Punch— its  caricature  of  Mr.  Beecher,  337. 

London  Times — its  antagonistic  attitude  to  the  Union  cause,  267. 

Martin,  Henri — present  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  98. 

Mason,  James  M. — his  presence  at  the  Lord  Mayor's  banquet,  209; 
his  seizure  on  the  "  Trent,"  278 

Massachusetts — how  slavery  ceased  in,  25. 

Massie,  Rev.  Dr. — his  remarks  at  Manchester  farewell   meeting, 
309- 

Missouri   Compromise— its  inception   and  object,    36,    108;     its 
abolition,  109. 

M'Laren,  Duncan — his  address  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  96. 

Montgomery  Constitution — how  differing  from  the   Federal  Con 
stitution,  42,  119,  152. 

Morrill  Tariff — its  origin  and  purpose,  149. 

Nationality  of  Government— its  proposal,  an  emanation  from  the 
South,  31. 

Nelson,  Thomas — his  address  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  124. 

Newman,  Prof. — his  address  at  London  meeting,  211. 

Newspaper  Reporters — Mr.  Beecher's  tribute  to,  275. 

Newth,  Prof.  Alfred — letter  from,  263. 

New  York  Riots,  236;  by  whom  caused,  292. 

New  York  State  Emancipation  Act — its  provisions  and  workings, 
25- 

Noel,  Rev.  and  Hon.  Baptist  \V.,  225. 

North,  The — financial  condition  of,  283;  labor  in,  64;  uprising  of, 
77- 

North  and  South — boundary  line  of,  87;  compared  as  to  cultivation 
of  land,  144. 

Ogilvie,  Rev.  Duncan — his  address  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  124. 

Pages,  Gamier — present  at  Edinburgh  meeting,  98. 


INDEX.  367 

Patterson,  John,  Esq. — his  address  at  Manchester  farewell  meet 
ing,  268. 

Peace  Democrats — their  efforts  to  stop  the  war,  114;  oppressors  of 
the  negro,  157. 

Phillips,  Wendell — Mr.  Beecher's  eulogy  of,  178,  307. 

Placards  Posted — at  Manchester,  5;  at  Liverpool,  128,  132,  168;  at 
"  London,  173,  224. 

Plymouth  Church — its  treatment  of  colored  people,  167,  2?S;  the 
recipient  of  an  address  from  the  London  meeting,  226;  Mr. 
Beecher's  acknowledgment  of  its  generosity  in  sending  him 
abroad,  261;  Mr.  Beecher's  description  of  its  workings, 

Popular  Sovereignty — established  and  abrogated,  109,  no. 

Potter,  Thos.  Baylev,  Esq. — letter  from,  5,  262. 

Prince  of  Wales — his  reception  in  America,  19. 

Queen  Victoria— American  regard  for,  19. 

Robertson,  Charles,  Esq. — his  address  at  Liverpool  meeting, 
letter  from,  263. 

Rogers,  Prof.  Henry  D.,  of  Glasgow  University — letter  from,  263. 

Russell,  Earl — his  speech  at  Blairgowrie,  116;  his  course  coin- 
mended,  273. 

Russian  men-of-war  in  New  York  harbor,  208. 

Scotland — Mr.  Beecher's  praise  of,  54. 

Scott,  Benjamin,  Chamberlain  of  London — his  address  at  London 
meeting,  174. 

Secession — how  the  Southern  States  were  won  to  it,  75 ;  the  right 
of,  196. 

Seizure  of  Rams  at  Liverpool,  49,  210. 

Seward,  Wm.  H. — his  correspondence  with  Earl  Russell  regarding 
the  seizure  of  the  "Trent,"  279. 

Sharpe,  Granville — 177. 

Shaw,  Col. — his  death  at  the  storming  of  Fort  \Vagner,  49. 

Slaves — necessity  of  keeping  them  ignorant,  61. 

Slave  States — division  of  the,  59. 

Slave  Empire — its  founding,  the  openly  avowed  purpose  of  a  party 
in  the  South,  72,  142. 

Slave  Breeding— profits  of,  60,  151;  Henry  Clay  on,  61. 

Slavery — Mr.  Beecher's  portraiture  of,  74;'  its  relations  to  the  war, 
82,  153;  the  blight  of,  201;  how  it  ceased  in  Massachusetts 
and  New  York,  25;  a  local  institution,  but  the  South  aiming 
to  make  it  national,  300;  as  defined  by  the  Slave  States,  301; 
recognized  in  the  Constitution  as  fact,  but  not  as  doctrine, 
302. 

Slidell,  John — Confederate  Minister  to  France,  no;  his  seizure  on 
the  English  steamer  "  Trent,"  278. 


368  INDEX. 

South,  The — her  control  of  New  York  officials,  27;  party  divisions 
in,  72;  a  gallant  people,  83,  130;  "  Why  not  let  them  go?" 
87,  195,  how  she  controlled  the  policy  of  the  country  for 
fifty  years,  105;  to  receive  more  benefit  from  negro  emanci 
pation  than  the  North,  130. 

Southern  Independence  Association — Mr.  Beecher's  reply  to  it's 
published  report,  41. 

South  Carolina — the  only  State  originally  voting  for  secession,  39 
75;  its  ensign,  220. 

Standing  Army  — dangerous  to  the  liberty  of  a  people,  if  great  i 
number,  200. 

State  Rights— Mr.  Beecher's  definition  of,  188,  308. 

Stephens,  Alex  H. — Mr.  Beecher's  criticisms  on  his  speech,  42; 
personal  tribute  to  him,  75;  extract  from  speech  by,  184. 

Stowe,  Harriet  Beecher — 358;  message  sent  to  her  from  Manches 
ter  meeting,  310. 

Sumner,  Charles — 126. 

Sumpter,  Fort — Batteries  opened  on,  77. 

Tariff  Ques  lion — discussed  by  Mr.  Beecher,  147;  not  a  ground  of 
secession,  256. 

Taylor,  Francis,  Esq. — his  address  at  Manchester  meeting,  6;  at 
Manchester  farewell  meeting,  266. 

Thompson,  George — his  address  '  at  London  meeting,  217;  at 
London  farewell  meeting,  259;  his  definition  of  a  copper 
head,  220. 

"  Trent,"  Steamer — seizure  of  the,  93,  277;  according  to  English 
precedent,  279;  British  and  American  doctrines  at  variance 
on  this  question,  281;  how  regarded  by  the  American  peo 
ple,  288;  Mr.  Seward's  correspondence  with  Earl  Russell 
regarding  it,  279. 

Union  Army — its  composition,  86. 

Wellington — in  the  Peninsular  wars,  113. 

Wharnclifie,  Lord — questions  put  to  him  by  Mr.  Beecher,  41. 

Wilks,  Washington,  Esq. — his  address  at  London  farewell  meet 
ing,  256. 

Wilson,  Charles,  Esq. — his  address  at  Liverpool  farewell  meet 
ing,  311. 


LOVELL'S  LITERATURE  SERIES— CoMTtNVRD. 


Seekers  After  God.    By  Canon 

Farrar 25 

Life  of  Marion.     By  Horry  and 

\Veems 25 

The  Hermits.     By  KingsTey 25 

Early  Days  of  Christianity.  Part 

I.     By  Canon  Farrar 25 

Early  Days  of  Christianity.  II.  25 
Life  of  Cromwell.  Paxton  Hood  20 
The  Conquest  of  Granada.  By 

Warhington  Irving 25 

Conquest  of  Spain.  By  Irving.  20 
India  and  Ceylon.  Ernst  Heckel  25 
More  Words  About  the  Bible...  25 
India:  What  Can  It  Teach  Us?  25 
Anti-Slavery  Days.  J.  F.  Clarke  25 

Beyond  the  Sunrise 25 

Life  of  Columbus.     Vol.  I.     By- 
Washington  Irving \<> 

Life  of  Columbus.     Vol.  II 30 

Abbotsford  and  Newstead  Abbey 

By  Washington  Irving 20 

Knickerbocker  History  of  New 

York.     Washington  Irving..  25 
Life  of  Daniel  Webster.    Parti.  25 

Life  of  Daniel  Webster.     II 25 

A  Delsartean  Scrap-Book.    Com 
piled  by  F.  Sanborn 25 

The  Alhambra.     W.  Irving 20 

Plutarch's  Lives. 
Plutarch's  Lives. 
Plutarch's  Lives. 
Plutarch's  Lives. 


Part  1 30 

Part  II 30 

Part  III 30 

Part  IV 30 

Plutarch's  Lives.  Part  V 30 

The  Open  Door.  Dr.  Dewey...  30 
Hypatia.  By  Charles  Kingsley  50 
Essays.  By  Ralph  Waldo  Lmer- 

so'n.  i  Volume  Edition 50 

Romola.  By  George  Eliot 50 

Uarda.  By  Georg  Ebers 50 

Life  of  Mahomet.  Vol.  I.  By 

Washington  Irving 25 

Lorna  Doone.  By  R.  D.  Black- 

m  ire 50 

An  Irish  Knight  of  the  ioth  Cen-. 

tury.  By  Varina  Anne  Davis  93 
Jane  Lyre.  Charlotte  Bronte..  50 
The  Last  Days  of  Pompeii.  By 

Lord  Lytton 50 

John  Halifax,  Gentleman.  By 

Miss  Mulock 50 

Poems.  By  Robert  Burns 25 

On  the  Heights.  By  Berthold 

Auerbach 50 

Undine  and  Other  Tales.  By 

De  La  Motte  Foque 50 

Bracebridge  Hall.  By  Wash 
ington  Irving 30 

Salmagundi.  By  W.  Irving 25 

Astoria.  By  W."  Irving 30 

Natural  Law  in  the  Spiritual 

World.  Henry  Drummond..  30 
Life  of  Mahomet.  Vol.  II.  By 

Washington  Irving 25 


151  Moorish  Chronicles. 

152  The  Moonstone. 


By  Irving  10 
By  W.  Collins  50 


50 


153  Ivanhoe.     By  Sir  Walter  Scott  . 

154  Westward  Ho  !     By  Kingsley.. 

155  Vanity   Fair.      By  William   M. 

Thackeray  ...................  50 

156  Scenes    of    Clerical    Life.      By- 

George  Eliot  .................  30 

157  Life  of    Hume.      By   Pn.: 

Huxley  ......................   10 

158  Story  of  Chinese  Gordon.     By 

A.  Egmont  Hake  ............  2^ 

159  Eliot's  Essays.    George  Eliot..  .  25 

160  Life  of  Defoe.    Bywm.  Minto.  10 

161  Life  of  Locke.     By  T.  Fowler..   10 

162  Homer's  Odyssey.     Translated 

by  Alexander  Pope  ..........  30 

163  Life  of  Milton.    Mark  Pattison.  10 

164  Homer's  Iliad.    Translated  by 

Alexander  Pope  .............  30 

165  Life  of  Pope.     Leslie  Stephen..  10 

166  Life  of  Johnson.    Leslie  Stephen  10 

167  Crown  of  Wild  Olive  :  Sesame 

and  Lilies.    By  John  Ruskin.  50 

168  Poe's  Poems.    By  E.  A.  Poe  ____  25 

169  Life  of  Southey.     By  Professor 

Dowden  .....................  10 

170  Life  of   Elaine.     By  Chas.   W. 

Balestier  .......  »  .............  20 

171  Middlemarch.    By  George  Eliot  50 

172  Wolfert's  Roost.     By  Irving  ----  10 

174  Shirley.     By  Charlotte  Bronte.  .  90 

175  Tonics  of  the  Times.     By  Rev. 

Howard  MacQuearv  ......... 

176  The  Last  of  the  Barons.     By  Sir 

E.  Bulwer  Lytton  ............  50 

177  Adam  Bede.    By  George  Eliot.  50 

178  Chicago  Bible  Stories.    Ursula 

Gestefeld  .................... 

179  Poems  of  Goethe.      By  Edgar 

Alfred  Bowring,  C.B  ........  25 

180  Life  of  Bunyan.    J.  A.  Froude.  10 

181  Lays  of  the  Scottish  Cavaliers. 

Wm.  Edmpndstoune  Aytoun..  25 

182  Modern  Christianity  ............  20 

183  Life  of  Shelley.    By  John  Ad- 

dington  Symonds  ............  x> 

184  Life  of  Sir  Walter  Scott.    By  R. 

H.  Hutton  ...................  jo 

185  Spiritism.     By  Edelweiss  ....... 

186  Life  of  Chaucer.    £rof.  A.  W. 

Ward  ........................  10 

187  Life  of  Cowper.  Goldwin  Smith  10 

188  Life  of  Spenser.     A.  W.  Church  10 

189  Life  of  Wordsworth.   F.  Meyers  to 
191  Life  of  Goldsmith.     By  Irving..  25 
*92  Beecher's  Speeches  in  England 

in  1863  .......................  50 

193  Life  of  Burke.    By  John  Morley  10 

194  Captain  Bonneville.    By  Irving  25 

195  Lite  of  Paul  Jones  ..............  25 

196  Rossetti's    Poems.      By  Dante 

Gabriel  Rossetti  .............  25 

197  Life  of  Burns.    Principal  Shairp  10 

198  Poems  of  Schiller.     By  Edgar 

Alfred  Bowring,  C.B  ........  25 

200  Goethe's  Faust.     By  J.  W.  von 

Goethe  ........................  25 


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